The Jarrett Family In Suburban Chicago's Ordinary People

According to Minuchin (1974), individuals organize themselves in systems of groups called families, true to human nature, as all members of a society are regarded as social creatures. Therefore, the family, which is comprised of different members, functions as an interdependent system with idiosyncratic norms and values. An emotional and powerful film evolving around the lives of an upper middle class family in suburban Chicago, Ordinary People illustrates the unraveling of the Jarrett family after they have been struck by tragedy: the unexpected loss of their oldest son Buck. Their youngest son has recently returned home from being hospitalized after a suicide attempted shortly after the accident that killed his brother. The movie depicts how the loss of an individual member from a family unit does not just affect another individual in the system. The loss impacts the family unit as a whole, as illustrated by the dynamics of the Jarrett family. This haunting film portrays

the lives of what most would consider ordinary people while demonstrating the complexities families face in times of crises and developmental changes. Consequently, it is important to note the importance of cultural and social expectations as consequences of how family life and interpersonal relations should be organized according to a societal norm or expectation. Although the film begins by attempting to show the family trying to cope with their loss and move on, it reveals that below the surface lie profound communication barriers and complex family dynamics. This film analysis examines the family dynamics presented in the Jarrett family taking into consideration crisis, the family life cycle and family dynamics. The Jarrett family, composed of Beth the mother, Calvin the father and Conrad the youngest son, live in a predominantly Caucasian upper-middle class neighborhood.
Buck
Although Buck has passed away due to an boating incident and the audience only is able to see glimpses of him in flashbacks throughout the movie, he is still an important character to consider, as his absence is as much part of the family as his presence would have been. According to the Family Life Cycle, even if a sibling passes away, the relationship does not end, but merely concludes the individual’s physical place in the family. This is very much true as seen through Conrad’s flashbacks, which depicted Buck as the star athlete, the likeable and social teenager, and mother’s “favorite” son.
Conrad
The youngest son of the family and the only survivor of the boating accident appears to be highlighted as the “identified patient” in the film. He has recently returned home after a four month hospitalization secondary to an attempt at suicide by cutting his wrists. Initially, Conrad is shown to exhibit symptoms of depression and/or post traumatic stress disorder, as illustrated by difficulty sleeping, frequent nightmares, lack of appetite, loss of interest in social activities with his peers and even difficulty concentrating in class. He is illustrated as a troubled young adolescent, and as the movie progresses, the audience is able to plunge more deeply into the depth’s of Conrad’s trauma and gain further understanding of how he blamed himself for his brother’s death. Furthermore, as the film progresses, the audience can more clearly understand why Conrad perceives that his mother does not love him. At the encouragement of his father, Conrad eventually seeks the help of Dr. Berger, a psychiatrist, to whom he expresses wanting to feel “more in control.”
Beth
Beth, wife to Calvin and mother to Conrad, is depicted as a woman of immaculate taste, evidenced by her perfectly neat house and elegant outfits. She appears to pay significant attention to order and social integration. She is portrayed as cold, aloof, and lacking in the maternal instinct, as she refrains from any emotional communication or affection towards her son or family in general. Throughout the movie, she remains preoccupied with maintaining her façade of propriety and order and refuses to discuss her son Buck’s funeral with anyone in her family, including her husband and her son.
Calvin
Calvin, husband to Beth and father to Conrad, is introduced as a kind and compassionate member of the family. He works as a successful attorney and is the family’s breadwinner. Calvin the only member of the family who is primarily concerned with his son Conrad, and is the one that urges him to seek the assistance of a psychiatrist.
Family Dynamics
According to family systems, every individual exists in the context of groups, which are largely impacted by societal and cultural norms. Such is true in the case of the Jarrett family, the members of which live their lives according to cultural and societal expectations. Among these expectations, the family is expected to maintain a polished house, the husband is the breadwinner, the wife takes care of the home, parties and social gatherings. As such, individual members of the family unit are affected by how they integrate to the social norms surrounding them and the organization of their family.
Family life cycle
A family is a system that moves through time and through various life cycles. As such, various factors including societal norms and crises can impact a family when moving through the developmental stages. Developmental issues of adolescence is a period during the family life cycle that is characterized by multiple changes in the adolescent, including physical, cognitive and psychological ones. Conrad’s difficulty connecting to his peers, his desire to leave the swimming team and his lack of concentration in class can all be consequences of the boating accident and residual emotional stress from his suicide attempt. Also, Beth’s agenda for Conrad at this time is quite different than Conrad’s as illustrated in a scene where Beth attempts to confront Conrad regarding him quitting the swim team. Beth takes this behavior as Conrad’s attempt to differentiate himself, leading to her shouting at him, “It’s really important for you to hurt me.” She later goes on to say that his personal decision is made to embarrass her and challenge their social appearance. In doing so, Beth personalizes an act that is more self-defining on Conrad’s part.
Homeostasis
In a family system, the natural tendency of a family is to keep the system where it is normally, or strive to return to a familiar place. According to _____, when there are challenges to the system resorting to homeostasis, it creates complications as family struggles to adapt to new changes. As consistently seen throughout the film, Beth takes the role of wanting to keep at appearances and remains reluctant to talk about Buck’s funeral or Conrad’s suicide attempt both within her own family and with others. Part of Beth’s reluctance to discuss these emotional events, and place such a great emphasis on keeping things the same by going to parties, planning a vacation, playing golf during the vacation, and buying holiday gifts are all attempts at homeostasis.
Structural Family Therapy:
According to structural family therapy, every individual, which is a subsystem of the family, inhabitants roles and maintains family rules are implicit and explicit patterns that are instrumental to the organization of the family.
Subsystems:
In every family system, individuals are comprised of subsystems and dyads. Each member of the family, including Beth, Calvin and Conrad are their own subsystems part of the Jarrett family and within them dyads also exist. Sibling subsystem is the first attempt at social interaction in which children can experiment with peer relationships. Additionally, it is in the absence of sibling subsystem where one can examine the significance of it. Although Buck has passed away, only his physical presence is concluded, and his relationship with members of the family haunts them throughout the film. The viewer gets a sense from the movie that at one time, there was a sibling subsystem. It was clear that in that subsystem Buck was the leader, and Conrad somewhat tailed on his role. Buck was the popular athlete, and held the power within that system. It can be understood how difficult it would have been for Conrad to lose the first attempt at a social, peer relationship with the loss of his brother during an accident that he witnessed. His difficulty to maintain the same social groups are illustrated through various scenes in the movie in which he gets into fights with his peers and begins to distance himself from them.
In the spousal dyad, Beth and Calvin comprise a complex subsystem in which the relations are unclear, but it can be understood that Beth seems to hold the power as she is the one who makes decisions for the family. Beth is the one seen accepting invitations without Calvin’s input. Beth is the one who plans what type of vacation they will go on, and with who without any regard to Calvin’s opinion.
In the parental subsystem, the importance of boundaries is instrumental to a healthy functioning. There seems to be a disconnect and a differentiated power hierarchy in the parental subsystem as the parents, Beth and Calvin, do not agree on how to engage or discipline Conrad. Beth remains withdrawn and reserved from Conrad, expecting him to keep up social appearances. Calvin on the other hand, makes several attempts throughout the movie to engage his son in more meaningful dialogue and show affection towards him. When Calvin initiates Conrad’s need to see a psychiatrist, Beth chuckles with sarcasm, downplaying its necessity. Furthermore, Beth makes statements indicating that problems should be resolved privately, without what she considers outside intervention.
Family Roles
Conrad takes on the role of the identified patient, as he is expressing the dysfunction of the entire system. He cannot sleep, has a decreased appetite, and is the one actively seeking outside resources as he actually sees a psychiatrist, Dr. Berger.
Beth appears to hold the power in the family, she establishes the rules and roles. She is the one who does the grocery shopping, she iss the one who maintains the up keeping of the house, and she is the one who cooks the meals. Additionally, Beth organizes the events the family will participate in and the type of vacations the family will take. The mother in this family makes most of the decisions, such as trips for herself and her husband, checking bills after returning from a trip, buying the shirts her teenage son should wear, and even what shoes her husband should wear during their son's funeral. Her need for so much power and control, for so much structure, leads to a great deal of tension within the family.
Calvin’s role as the father and husband is of the peacemaker. He serves as the buffer between Conrad and Beth, a role that is repeated throughout the movie. This was illustrated in the scene where Beth confronts Conrad for quitting the swimming team; Conrad’s emotions begin to escalate and he confronts his mother about her lack of visits to the hospital. Calvin, true to his role as a buffer, tries to come between them and keep both members at ease.
It should be considered that the roles the members of the family play contradict Western roles of gender. In the film, Beth appears cold, reserved and external. She is even aloof and shows no affection to her son, but does so in limited capacities to her husband. Calvin, the father, holds a more tender position, as illustrated through his various attempts at trying to engage Conrad in communication and checking up on him. The pattern that we see is a complimentary role of tough-mother/tender-father. Within this family structure, the father plays more of the traditional gender roles assigned to an "expressive" role, expected of a caring mother, such as providing emotional support and tender care.
Patterns/Rules
In the Jarrett family, various patterns exist that maintain the system.

For example, early on in the film, it appears that a rule has been implied in which the members of the family cannot discuss details of the funeral or what happened to Conrad following the incident. In addition, it lends to a larger frame, in which it appears that members of the family do not discuss feelings or emotions. Members of the family do not display overt emotions and keep family matters as private as possible. Nobody in the family yells or shouts nor uses profanity, except when Conrad attempts to break this pattern during a scene in the film when Calvin is asking for Conrad and Beth to take a picture side by side. The viewer can see how visibly uncomfortable and stiff mother and son are, and Conrad consequently has an outburst. Although he stuns those surrounding him, no one acknowledges the outburst. Beth instead asks whose hungry, a motif in the film that Beth uses to dissipate attention from difficult

situations.
Alliances
An alliance is seen in the family most explicitly between Conrad and Calvin. Their behaviors and interactions become more obvious as the movie progresses clearly demonstrating that they are aligned with each other. This is illustrated in an early scene in the film in which after Beth and Calvin return from a party, Calvin goes to check on Conrad in his room, but does a double take to look at Beth and check to see if she is coming.
Triangles
According to family systems, triangles exist in families in which two members bring in a third member or entity to stabilize the dyad relationship. The existence of a triangle is ever-present in the film. The underlying anxiety between each family member is managed in a sort of family dance. Conrad initially assumes the position of symptom bearer, taken advantage of by Beth, mostly through her control of Calvin, as a vulnerable target for her anxiety. Calvin seems to act as a peacemaker between Conrad and Beth much of the time, absorbing their anxiety and, ironically, participating in its maintenance. As Conrad is engaged in a process of change, partly through the involvement of Dr. Berger and Jeanine, he gradually begins to differentiate from the emotional chaos once controlling from within. As Conrad becomes less reactive and eventually expresses selfless love to each parent, Beth is left to cope with inner turmoil and conflict between deep hurt and confusion.
Boundaries
According to structural therapy, this system would be regarded as a disengaged system, where boundaries are inflexible. Beth’s boundaries with her husband are impermeable and rigid as Conrad cannot get through whatsoever. This boundary between Beth and Conrad specifically is so immutable that it cannot adapt to change, creating some of the dysfunction in the family. This is illustrated through various scenes in the film, including in a scene in which Conrad attempts to carry on a dialogue with his mother recalling memories of Buck, and she quickly shuts him down. Furthermore, Conrad also tries to talk to his mother about issues that may be of importance to him, but she refuses to engage in a reciprocating conversation.
Where to put… ????
Beth personalizes her son’s actions, as seen through the scene where she confronts Conrad about quitting the swimming team. An act that is more self-defining on Conrad’s part, Beth personalizes as an act against her. In addition, Conrad quitting the swim tem could be concerning for both parents as a loss of interest in an activity that he may have previously enjoyed. However, Calvin is the only one in the parental subsystem to show some concern and curiosity, while Beth frames Conrad for wanting to hurt and embarrass her. Calvin, in that scene, acts as a buffer between Beth and Conrad, which is seen throughout the movie as a pattern between the system. In the specific scene, Beth reinforces Conrad’s position as the buffer by not directly confronting Conrad. Conrad’s historical pattern of trying to protect his mother- letting mom off the hook when she can’t handle emotionally charged topic- but in the scene, he shouts at mom, clearly interrupting the pattern and confronting her why she did not visit him in the hospital. Beth reacts by responding, “Buck would’ve never been in the hospital,” implying that Conrad is weak.