Ordinary People by Judith Guest is a very emotional book that deals with many
thoughts and actions about life and suicide. A lot of people would have different opinions
or perspectives about this story. My thesis question for this book is: Does the author
Judith Guest try to prove that even the perfect family can fall apart? In this novel, regular
or "ordinary people" have to learn to cope with many extraordinary crises.
In Ordinary People, Conrad Jarrett is a seventeen year old boy attending a public
high school in the suburbs of Illinois. He and his family go through many stressful
struggles after Conrad's brother Jordan dies in a boating accident. Jordan's death
influences Conrad so much that he even cuts up his wrists and tries to commit suicide but
he does not die. Conrad struggles with a lot of things including school, quitting the
swimming team, and his friends. Conrad's mother Beth, is a perfectionist and is always
concerned about the way people view her and her family. She wishes for everyone to see
them as "normal". Conrad's Dad Cal feels he is somewhat responsible for Conrad's
suicide attempt. He also believes that Conrad and Beth are drifting away from each other
and he doesn't know who to follow. The story ends when Beth leaves home to go away
for a while because she can't get along with her family.
In this book, the title does give a clue about a possible theme. The term "ordinary
people" is mentioned several times in this book. There can be many different themes for
this book although my theme did not come from the title. My theme is: even a perfect
family can fall apart and sometimes fall into a mental stress, due to a life changing event. I
think this because everything is perfect before Jordan dies. Everything and everyone
seems to fall apart after his accident. For example, Conrad attempts to ...