Ordinary People: Lives Of The Jarrett Family

The award winning movie Ordinary People explores the lives of the Jarrett Family. The Jarrett family is attempting to overcome the accidental boating death of their son Buck while struggling with their other son Conrad who has recently attempted to commit suicide. Although Conrad’s parents want their life to be happier, throughout the movie they wrestle with how to handle situations effectively and appropriately. What they do not know is that the answer might be simpler than they think. The small act of conflict management and periodic crucial conversations could have prevented 99 percent of their problems before they occurred, including the outlashes of violence and periods of science from Conrad, Beth, and Calvin. Throughout the film the

After moments moments of bickering between Beth and Calvin, Conrad screams “Give her the god damn camera” in front of not only his parents but their friends as well. Instead of reacting in a loud and violent way he could have used mutual purpose to address the situation. Mutual purpose “de-escalates” the “fight or flight” response and forces the individual to see the argument of both sides before jumping to conclusions. An example of a “flight” response is when Conrad and his friends are standing around his locker and he asks them to read because they remind him of his deceased brother, Buck, Instead of suppressing the thought and distancing himself from his friends he should have used dialogue to tell them how he his feeling which would help improve his mental

Calvin responds in a “fight” manner when on the golf course with his wife and friends. Calvin becomes heated when Beth approaches him about wanting to be alone without Conrad on vacation. An example of a “flight” response from Conrad is when he wants to get a divorce with his wife. Calvin runs from the issues with his wife but wanting a divorce rather than confronting the underlying problems. In both of these examples crucial conversations need to take place. By having a crucial conversation they could address the obvious and underlying problems that exist in the relationship. When having a conversation they must remember to maintain a non-judgemental tone, calm voice, and reassure each other of what they do have. These techniques will allow for much more progress in the relationship than screaming