Ordinary People Conrad Jarrett Character Analysis

Conrad Jarrett the protagonist in the movie Ordinary People is the son of Calvin and Beth Jarrett. A lack of communication and denial between the members of the family is seen after the death of the oldest son Buck. Conrad struggled to cope after the death of his brother and attempted to commit suicide but failed, forcing him to be hospitalized. After he was released from the hospital Conrad was trying to get his life back to normal, but he was very depressed and felt he had very little purpose in life and no motivation. He then began to see his psychiatrist Dr. Berger to help him recover from the traumatic events that he had previously experienced. His psychiatrist taught him to express his emotions rather than hold them back, and showed him how to properly cope and work through conflicts that arise between him and his family members. Throughout the movie conflicts of the dysfunctional Jarrett family are presented through their violent and silent actions.

The relationship between Conrad and his mother is nonexistent. After the incident Beth shows no affection to Conrad. She cares and loves him, but she can’t seem to bring herself to display
feelings for him. Conrad feels terrible for attempting suicide because he knows it caused his mother a tremendous amount of pain. Even so she refuses to forgive him for his suicide attempt. Beth is an extreme perfectionist and she wants other people to see her family not as dysfunctional. Therefore when someone else told her that Conrad left the swim team she freaked out because she wants everyone to think that her family is perfect and has no flaws. Her son attempted suicide, but she thinks if she doesn’t talk about it, then it didn’t happen. Acknowledging her son’s problems means she has to acknowledge that she isn’t perfect so she refuses to talk about it or Buck’s death. While Calvin was hospitalized after his suicide attempt Beth went on vacation. She seems to think any interaction with her son is too much. It seems much of Conrad’s pain is a result of his mom not being able to forgive him. Ultimately I believe she was the main cause of his deep depression because of the guilt she put on him causing him to blame himself for the death of her favorite son.

The relationship between Calvin and Beth initially seems to be perfect. However, the tragic loss of their son, Buck has caused a great amount of anger and pain that they aren’t expressing. Beth lives in denial, trying to live the life of a perfect person unaffected by what had happened to her son Buck. She tries to keep the memories of her lost son buried deep inside of her. Calvin wants the family to go through counseling together to try to resolve some of the families underlying issues caused by the death of Buck, but Beth refuses to go to counseling. Her refusal to show Calvin any affection at all is what pushes Calvin to his breaking point. At this point he tells her that he’s not sure if he even loves her anymore. Beth had no idea how to discuss what Calvin just said, so of course she just walked away. As a result of Calvin telling her he didn’t love her anymore she packed her things and left.

At any rate Conrad and his father, Calvin had a very strong trusting relationship.
Although Conrad was stubborn and didn’t want to speak of his problems, Calvin would keep trying to get it out of him. He would never give up on Conrad he cared deeply for him and wanted him to share his feelings and emotions. Calvin’s main priority was to see his son back to life, back to who he was before the boating accident. He showed his affections for Conrad both physically and verbally. Throughout the movie Calvin would walk into Conrad’s room after he’d have an argument with his mother and he would make sure he was doing fine. When Beth left Conrad believed it was his fault, but Calvin talked to him and made him realize had no control over the way his mom felt and it wasn’t his fault that she was such a cold hearted selfish
person.

Ultimately Conrad dealt with several traumatic events in his life, but he was able to overcome those events with the help of his psychiatrist Dr. Berger and his father Calvin Jarrett. Dr. Berger was finally able to make Conrad realize that he wasn’t at fault for his brothers death. Both men also were able to help him with difficult relationships. There’s no doubt in my mind that Dr. Berger and Calvin are the main reason that Conrad could cope with his depression and learn that other people's problems were not caused by him.