Ordinary People Themes By Judith Guest Source enotes

Ordinary People: Themes By Judith Guest Source: enotes. com. Ordinary People Summary and Study Guide, enotes. com, Inc. , n. d. Web. 3 Jan. 2010.

4 Main Themes • Grief and sorrow • Atonement and forgiveness • Alienation and loneliness • Identity

Grief and Sorrow • Conflicts arise in the family as they turn inward to cope with the loss of Buck. • Because Conrad feels responsible for Buck’s death, he cannot grieve in a healthy way. • Beth can’t deal with her sorrow because she does not accept that their lives will never be the same again now that Buck is gone. • Cal’s need for structure and organization in his life is destroyed by the tragedy, and he loses his grip on his identity and his relationship with his family.

Atonement and Forgiveness • Con apologizes for the boating accident but not for his suicide attempt. • His parents struggle to forgive him. • Beth says she will never forgive Con for attempting suicide because it is his way of punishing her. • Without the capacity to forgive, she is unable to reconcile her feelings for her surviving son.

• Cal is very oversolicitous with Con and treats him as fragile. • He cannot have a genuine relationship with Con until he acknowledges his anger at Con for attempting suicide and tearing the family apart.

Alienation and Loneliness • Con is depressed, anxious, and barely able to speak to friends, family members or teachers. • Cal feels alienated because he cannot have healthy social encounters and drinks too much to compensate. • Beth, who is in the best position to help her husband, cannot listen to others’ feelings or express her own.

• Ironically, Conrad seems to cope best as a result of his therapy with a psychiatrist and his relationship with a girlfriend. • He actually makes real connections with other people and finally feels much less isolated than his parents are.

Identity • After Buck’s death, Con and Cal recognize that they are living in the shadows of other people. • They no longer have their own identity. • Con’s therapist helps him understand that by repressing his feelings he is losing touch with his own identity and no longer really knows what kind of person he is.

• Cal is also prevented from expressing his feelings and from connecting with his wife. • When Buck died, their family roles shifted and vanished. • Beth is unable to adapt to the changes in the family in the face of difficult circumstances.