ipl-logo

Dysfunctional Conflict In Ordinary People

1544 Words7 Pages

In Ordinary People Conrad and Buck were out sailing when Buck drowned. Conrad tries to commit suicide by taking a knife to his wrist. He was hospitalized then was suppose to go to a psychiatrist to get help. Conrad gets into a serious relationship with Jeannine, and starts to get his life back together. By the end of the movie, Beth leaves home after Conrad came home and gave her a hug. Losing Buck was very hard on the family, but especially on Conrad because he was there when it happened. This movie relates in many ways to the chapters we read in class. In this essay I 'm going to compare the movie to conflict, stress, and change.
The Jarretts are having a lot of conflict within their family. They are dealing with dysfunctional conflict which …show more content…

In Ordinary People the family is going through distress which is a negative stress because the family is going through a lose of a son or brother. Losing Buck has caused both major life changes and daily hassles. The major life change was Buck dying that puts a lot of stress on the family and especially on Conrad because he was there in the moment when it happened. The mother and father had a lot of stress because their son died that is very hard on a family. Calvin is handling it a lot better than Beth. Beth is taking it out on Conrad and even on Calvin at the golf course. The family experiences daily hassles because Conrad is constantly thinking about when his brother died and that moment on the boat. At first when Conrad went to the Dr.Berger he didn 't like that and going there caused stressed. This was a chronic stressor because he was didn 't exact believe in it at first, and wasn 't getting anything out of it. He wasn 't able to escape it that was the only thing that could eventually help him. The family experienced external stressor like discomfort because they were around people who were concerned about them and would ask how they are doing. They also were getting frustrated with each other like the time Beth and Calvin were at the golf course they just started yelling at each other they became so frustrated with each that they stormed their different ways. Also there was some internal stressors like Conrad experiences cognitive appraisal because he is …show more content…

The family goes through a lot of change when Buck dies. According, to the Holmes-Rahe Readjustment Scale the death of a close family member like Buck is in the top five of the biggest changes in life. Each member of the family experienced the seven stages of personal change. During the ending stage of emotional standstill Conrad couldn’t believe that he let his brother let go. Conrad kept asking himself “Why did this happen?” Then Conrad was at the denial stage he couldn 't really believe that Buck was gone he kept denying the thought. The third stage that Conrad goes through was anger I think that he experienced this by blaming his brothers death on himself. This is eventually where Conrad tries to commits suicide but dad catches him and he doesn 't succeed. Next Conrad is at the stage of helplessness he just got out of the hospital he doesn’t know what to do anymore and doesn 't care to be on a swim team anymore. Conrad bottoms out by quitting the swim team and punching one of his friends. The sixth stage is experimenting. Conrad was experimenting by going to Dr.Berger to get some help and going out on a date with Jeannine. He was finally getting back into the normal world without any stress about the change in his life. By the end of the movie Conrad is becoming a new person. He is starting to be nice to his family even though his mother didn 't exactly accept it. Conrad was getting the help he needed and was in a serious relationship. That was the stage of

Show More
Related

  • Con Or Jarrett's Role In Ordinary People By Judith Guest

    607 Words  | 3 Pages

    Unfortunately Con does not warm up easily to people, he finds it hard to share his feelings with others. However, as he gets to know and trust others he is not as scared to talk to them which is a small sign of Conrad 's independence . At Cons first appointment with Dr. Berger Con told him "I 'd like to be more in control, I guess. So people can quit worrying about me"( 43). This can give us a pretty good idea of Cons mental state right after he is released.

    Read More

  • Point Of View In Judith Guest's Ordinary People

    705 Words  | 3 Pages

    However, this would be false because Beth played an important role in both Conrad and Calvin’s life whether that be good or bad. For example, Guest said, “‘Okay,’ he says. ‘Alright. Once I tried to kill myself, how’s that?’”(119). Conrad carried his guilt around because he knew it made his mother upset.

    Read More

  • Ordinary People Film Analysis

    655 Words  | 3 Pages

    Beth suppresses the thought that her family has problems, and just wants to think of her family as a normal family. Calvin wants to be the positive character, when in reality, is being silent about his feelings of the incident. First of all, the film shows Conrad expressing examples of silence and violence towards the incident involving his brothers death. As shown in the film, in the past, Conrad had previously tried to commit suicide, because he felt guilty

    Read More

  • The American Dream: The Effects Of Stress On An Individual's Life

    1667 Words  | 7 Pages

    Stress is something we all go through and over time our stress beings to build up. Many believe that stress starts to impact one 's life by the time they start middle school or the beginning of their teenage years. The transition from elementary to middle school into high school can be very intense. Students become highly influenced by their surroundings which makes them susceptible to descended into unhealthy coping mechanisms. At this point in time their lives are shifting dramatically, they will be encountering many different people.

    Read More

  • Lack Of Communication In Judith Guest's Ordinary People

    686 Words  | 3 Pages

    She creates stories and makes assumptions. She also prefers to talk, not listen. For example, when Beth and Calvin go to play golf, Calvin tells Beth that Conrad “needs to know that you don’t hate him”. She gets defensive immediately and starts to accuse Conrad of telling lies to his father, convinced that Conrad is against her. She shows signs of violence, including labeling Instead, she should control her stories and presume that people are basically good.

    Read More

  • Grief In Ordinary People Essay

    435 Words  | 2 Pages

    Since Buck, Conrad’s brother, is dead, Conrad is feeling depressed seeing that the house is more empty now that Buck is gone. Conrad also shows deep depression in school when his teacher questions him asking, “Why are you writing all this about violence and war? Aren’t there other things you’d like to say, Conrad? This doesn’t sound like you.” (Guest 19).

    Read More

  • What Does Heart Of Darkness Red Symbolize

    1008 Words  | 5 Pages

    White is universally known as the good side of stories, but Conrad seems to have a different point of view for this topic in the book. The people who were

    Read More

  • The Glass Menagerie Rhetorical Analysis

    1540 Words  | 7 Pages

    With this time period in mind, the audience can infer the financial situation of their family is very dire and that they are holding on by a thread to even live a normal life. Moreover it explains how the play is narrated and held in the point of view of the main character, Tom, and it is a memory play which illustrates that the play is taking place in Tom's memory which recalls events from a person's life that may be exaggerated and described in a sentimental way thus showing how many parts may become fairly unrealistic. Furthermore, in scene two, where the audience is told that Laura, the sister, dropped out of college due to an incident involving a panic attack, the audience is able to understand her personality by demonstrating that she has a very anxious, shy, and coward-like personality, thus adding to the exposition of the character traits. Also, with her dropping out, it explains that the tuition for her college was fifty dollars which was a lot of money, and that it was their mother's, Amanda's, plans and ambitions thrown down the drain which further supports that the family is in need of money because of the Depression. These overall, add to the exposition of the plot by explaining the setting, adding to the character traits, and things as such, but it may also include the rising action which is when Laura decided to drop out of her college, wasting the fifty dollars her mother paid for her

    Read More

  • The Characters In Judith Guest's Ordinary People

    752 Words  | 4 Pages

    The event in the book forced their true colors to come to the surface and unfortunantely, they both disagreed with each other. As much as Calvin pushed himslef to change and stay wioth Beth regardless of her lack of emotion, in the end, he had to let her go. As for Beth, she had wanted to leave the memories and all the judgement that came alng with them since Conrad’s atempt. It was hard for Calvin, but in a way it was a relief because he know that Conrad could feel the pressure of her disapproval and with her gone he could finally be the helpful father that he has been trying

    Read More

  • Dysfunction Of The Family In The Film Ordinary People

    515 Words  | 3 Pages

    The film Ordinary People follows the family of a once suicidal teenage boy, Conrad, who is dealing with severe survivor's guilt after the death of his older brother, Buck, at sea. Throughout the movie, dysfunction within the family is very evident on many different occasions. Each of the three remaining members of the household; Beth Jarrett, Calvin Jarrett and, as mentioned before, Conrad Jarrett, demonstrate many instances where inadequacy in conflict management is clearly shown. If not for these deficiencies, however, the family would have been able to better cope and recover from the loss of Buck.

    Read More

  • Buck's Change In The Call Of The Wild

    705 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the novel of the Call of the Wild, Buck tried to adapt to his new and difficult life. He was forced to help the men find gold; he experienced a big transformation in him. At the end, he transformed into a new and different dog. Buck went through physical, mental and environmental changes. In my essay, I talked about how Buck was like at the beginning, what he changed into, and how he was forced to adapt his new environment, and underwent these changes.

    Read More

  • Ordinary People Psychological Analysis

    1658 Words  | 7 Pages

    He has suicidal urges all over again, but this time he fights them and frantically makes an emergency appointment with Dr. Berger. He shows up at his office in a broken state in the middle of the night. Conrad sobs uncontrollably and everything comes pouring out: the whole story of the night Buck died and how he blamed himself, his mother’s hatred for him, and how he was never good enough. Dr. Berger listens and holds him like a parent would hold a child and finally, Conrad begins to calm down. Through psychotherapy, Berger has allowed his client to work through his guilt, anger, and grief successfully in a painful and moving emotional battle.

    Read More

  • Ordinary People Character Analysis Essay

    456 Words  | 2 Pages

    From the beginning, Conrad had various problems in the way he thinks. From start to finish Conrad made a radical change in his life. He learned that his brother’s death wasn’t his fault and came to terms with the fact that his mother could never deliver him what he wants and needed to stop holding a grudge against her for that. Conrad was not the only one who experienced change; his mother, Beth, did as well. Beth realized that she could not love the way her family wanted her to and decided that herself and her social status were more significant than her own sons well-being.

    Read More

  • What Is The Instinct In The Call Of The Wild

    833 Words  | 4 Pages

    We frequently repress our impulses and passions in order to fit in and be accepted in a culture that values moderation and uniformity. This suppression can be harmful since it can cause identity loss and a sense of being cut off from our genuine selves. Buck's journey serves as an example of how embracing our basic nature can lead us to find who we really are and realize our full potential. The book also makes the point that accepting our basic nature comes with a cost. Buck must continuously defend himself against those who would undermine his position as the pack leader in order to maintain his newfound independence and power.

    Read More

  • Conflict Theory In Nursing

    1444 Words  | 6 Pages

    UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, JAMAICA COLLEGE OF HEALTH SCIENCES CARIBBEAN SCHOOL OF NURSING, UTECH Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) Conflict Theory Submitted in partial fulfillment of the module SOC 1001: Sociology Submitted to: Mrs.Rená Blackwood-McIntosh (Lecturer) Prepared by: Michaella Pryce ID #: 1402203 Date: September 26, 2014 Montego Bay, Jamaica Conflict Theory A conflict may be defined as a disagreement resulting from an individual or groups of individuals due to a difference in attitude, beliefs, values or needs with unwillingness to conform. Conflicts may be interpersonal, intrapersonal, intergroup or intragroup conflicts.

    Read More

More about Dysfunctional Conflict In Ordinary People

Open Document