ordinary ppl
Ordinary People by Judith Guest is the story of a
dysfunctional family who relate to one another through a series of
extensive defense mechanisms, i.e. an unconscious process whereby
reality is distorted to reduce or prevent anxiety. The book opens
with seventeen year old Conrad, son of upper middle-class Beth and
Calvin Jarrett, home after eight months in a psychiatric hospital,
there because he had attempted suicide by slashing his wrists. His
mother is …
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…who keep stiff upper lips find that it's damn hard to
smile". We see Conrad moving toward recovery and the successful
management of his stage of development, as articulated by Erikson,
"intimacy vs. isolation". At story end, his father is more open
with Conrad, moving closer to him, while his mother goes off on her
own to work out her issues. Both trying to realize congruence in
their development stage (Erikson), "ego integrity vs. despair".
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