Recovery In Judith Guest's Ordinary People

In Judith Guest’s Ordinary People, Conrad recovered by talking to Dr. Berger and Jeannine; by communicating with these characters, Conrad learned to take control and open up with his feelings. In the beginning of the novel, Conrad was emotionally unstable but eventually he began to lighten up and just go with the flow. Conrad encountered a lot throughout this novel, rather it be through the many dreams he had or finally opening up and talking through his feelings. Conrad had to see for himself that he could finally control his own life. Many people were involved in helping Conrad through this recovery, but the most important was Dr. Berger and Jeannine. First off, Dr. Berger was a huge impact in Conrad’s recovery, he learnt

She finally got Conrad to feel wanted or able to open up. When Conrad first talked to Jeannine he was nervous, he has never really been able to talk to girls since the accident. In the novel Conrad is trying to be more sociable and make new friends. Conrad makes the big step and asks Jeannine if she would like a ride home, Conrad says “Would you like a ride home?”(Guest 152). Jeannine’s response changes how Conrad views himself, Jeannine says “Oh, that’d be nice. Thanks.”(Guest 152). This was the first step in Conrad’s life that he learned to take control, he stepped up and asked Jeannine which later turned out to them talking about his Christmas the whole way to her house. Jeannine makes Conrad feel like he isn’t alone, that everyone gets upset about somethings in their life. Conrad forgot all about how upset he was and focused on how upset Jeannine was. Jeannine was upset about her parents getting a divorce and she was crying and Conrad put his arms around her and said “It’s alright, It’ll work out all right”(Guest 200). This is important because Conrad is now controlling his life, he realizes he can’t just worry about himself that people he loves also need