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The Jarret Family In Judith Guest's Ordinary People

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In the human mind, everything has to be perfect, simple, and easy. Across the world, at every moment in every day, people strive for perfection. A perfect day, a perfect family, a perfect life. However, perfection is not that simple and frankly, is almost impossible to come across. Take the Jarret family, for example, in Judith Guest’s Ordinary People. The Jarret’s are perceived as a typical, perfect, ordinary family. The lives of these family members soon become anything but perfect, with the death of the eldest son and the suicide attempt of the other child. Conrad, the youngest son, has a very hard time dealing with the grief of his brother’s death, and ultimately tries to end his life. Conrad has a very difficult understanding that the death of his brother affects others too, making Conrad ultimately feel alone and insecure. In Judith Guest's Ordinary People, Conrad Jarrett learns to deal with recovery and hardship with the help of actions through learning that he’s not alone when he is depressed with the help and guidance of Lazenby and Dr. Berger.
In Ordinary People, Judith Guest frequently shows how difficult normal life for Conrad Jarrett can be to adjust after the death of his brother. Conrad shows that he tends to blame himself for the accident and expresses the feeling that no one understands how he feels. This pushes …show more content…

Conrad continuously has to mentally work against the hardships and struggles weighing him down, but the weights also become less and less. Learning to accept the help offered allows the weights to become lifted, pushing the difficult moments aside to enjoy other memories. No individual is perfect, each person deals with hardships conquered every day, and however, those who are strong enough don’t deal with the pain

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Ordinary People Lack of communication leads to much dysfunction. Ordinary People based on the book by Judith Guest revolves around the Jarrett family and their efforts to communicate. Conrad Jarrett, the son of Calvin and Beth Jarrett, struggles with PTSD and survivor’s guilt after the death of his brother in a boating accident. Additionally, Beth, who favored her older son, has isolated herself from Conrad. She distances herself emotionally, whilst trying to maintain the family’s idealistic reputation.

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