Judith Guest's Ordinary People

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Recommended: Relationship between a doctor and patient

In the book Ordinary People by Judith Guest, Conrad Jarret was a boy recovering from his brother’s death as well as his suicide attempt. In the story many people tried to help him recover for example his father, who constantly looked over Conrad and made Conrad feel wanted by at least one of his parents. Then there was Joe Lazenby a longtime friend who had cared about Conrad since they were kids. In the end I believe that there were two characters that exhibited more care and love toward Conrad in times of need, the characters are Jeannine and Dr. Berger. These characters exhibited the uttermost love and care for Conrad in his true time of need. Nothing had stopped them, they always had a way to take care of Conrad and they sped up his recovery …show more content…

They first start off the book with a bad relationship where Conrad did not trust Dr. Berger with his feelings, and they had a shaky relationship. This is evident in chapter 5 when Conrad talks to himself about Dr. Berger, “The worst, the first session has been gotten through. And the guy is not bad; at least he is loose. The exchange about the razor blades reminded him of something good about the hospital; nobody hid anything there. People kidded you about all kinds of stuff and it was all right; it even helped to stay the flood of shame and guilt.” We can see that Conrad is comparing to time in the hospital with Berger, he specifically shows the trust between him and the patients and doctors at the hospital. Although he had more trust with the hospital, he is open to more people helping him. So as the story progresses, we see that he has opened up to …show more content…

Her story serves to remind the reader that Conrad may soon find himself in the same position. When we see the similarity between the situations of the two, we are better able to visualize Conrad in that same position later in the novel. When we were in the end of the chapter we saw Jeannine crying in the kitchen. Conrad was confused of what was going on at first, but later realized this. “She pulls in her breath, and her arms are around his waist, her head on his chest. He stands, holding her; tests the feeling of someone leaning on him, looking to him for support. He feels as if he could stand here holding her forever. Her lashes are wet, golden in the harsh overhead light. He lifts her chin with his hand and kisses her. Her face is tear-streaked, her mouth loose under his, turned slightly down. He has never felt so strong, so needed”. When he holds her arm around her a sense of need is shown from Jeannine to Conrad. This helps Conrad because this shows that someone needs him and that if he were to ever commit suicide he would be hurting people who care about him. A girlfriend is a person who loves you, she is a person who depends on you and needs you in the good times and bad. Jeannine is able to help Conrad the most out of all characters she is able to connect with Conrad, and not only that she is one of people that keep Conrad going and not thinking about suicide. She helps

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