Ordinary People Research Paper

The Jarrett's' have always believed themselves to be ordinary people, but after a their firstborn son, Jordan "Buck" Jarrett, drowns and their second born son, Conrad, attempts suicide their whole world is turned upside-down. When Conrad comes home from his mental institution he feels that things have changed. Conrad's relationship with his parents has changed. The relationship that Conrad has with his parents change throughout the novel and are shaky all the way to the last page.

Success is measured differently by every person and each and every culture. The journey to success in most cultures, however, is generally idealized in the same way: one person working harder than everyone else to achieve his or her goal with their own merits as their only advantage. In Outliers: The Story of Success, the author, Malcolm Gladwell, argues about how wrong that ideology is and the truth behind successful people. Throughout his guide, Gladwell employs the help of many argumentative techniques to convince the reader of his message.

Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell In his book Outliers: The Story of Success, Malcolm Gladwell explores a variety of different success stories as case studies. Gladwell begins by explaining the definition of an outlier. An outlier can also be referred to as “something that is situated away from or classed differently from a main or related body” (page 3). Therefore, this means that outliers can be a person, place, or even an event in time.

The Unangan people also known as the Aleut, were a group of native people that originated from Alaska in the far western portion. These native people were known as outsiders in this specific area. From southwest Alaska all the way to Asia is a chain of islands that are call the Aleutians. The term “Aleut” was discovered by one of the Unangan groups that was from the Near Islands. Since then the term has been used for all the Unangan groups and also to some of another group from the east called the Yup’ik. There were about 10,000 people in the Unangan group when they were first contacted by Russia in 1741. The Unangan people and the Yup’ik people are very different in many ways. They are different by economy, language, technology, and by the

Christopher R. Browning’s “Ordinary Men” chronicles the rise and fall of the Reserve Police Battalion 101. The battalion was one of several units that took part in the Final Solution to the Jewish Question while in Poland. The men of Reserve Police Battalion 101, and other units were comprised of ordinary men, from ordinary backgrounds living under the Third Reich. Browning’s premise for the book is very unique, instead of focusing on number of victims, it examines the mindset of how ordinary men, became cold-hearted killers under Nazi Germany during World War II. Christopher Browning’s “Ordinary Men” presents a very strong case that the men who made up the Reserve Police Battalion 101 were indeed ordinary men from ordinary background, and

The band Foster the People first started in Los Angeles, CA in 2009. Where singer Mark Foster formed the band after being a struggling musician and a commercial jingle writer. Foster knew Mark Pontius, the drummer, since film school where they were both talented musicians. Mark eventually left his old band Malbec to form a new band with Foster. After Foster had written a few songs, he realized that they had a singer and a drummer, but they needed a bassist. So Foster’s long time friend Cubbie Fink joined the band after losing his job as a television producer during the great recession. Together they formed the band Foster and the people, but people misunderstood and thought that it was Foster the People. Foster the people wrote their hit song

The meaning of “success” has numerous interpretations, whether it is your own or society’s definition. Within Outliers author Malcolm Gladwell explains that being successful has nothing to do with your personality, so whether you are intelligent and hardworking or lazy and aloof, it depends on your circumstances growing up. Whether your parents are immigrants, you are the smartest man alive or have a habit of rigorous practice, your own personal success differs. However, Gladwell says that the conditions you grow up in affects your success. The idea of being successful varies from culture to culture. Therefore, there’s no definite meaning of success other than one’s interpretation.

A) What other influences besides culture can help to instill the traits necessary for success?

In the movie Ordinary People, the Jarrett family is faced with traumatic events that provoke situations of crucial communication. The family members, Conrad (son), Beth (mother), and Calvin (father), have to deal with the loss of their beloved older son and brother. The loss of Buck hit Conrad, especially hard, resting displaced guilt on his shoulders. Conrad buckles under the guilt and pain, allowing him to draw in the dark emotions that fill his heart and mind attempting to end his life and end the agony. The opening of the movie is set in the time following Conrad’s release from the hospital when he returns to a quiet home with little love and compassion released from his mother's heart. He returned to a place of more pain. Beth, the mother,

The movie I chose was Easy A because there are many psychological concepts this movie that relate to real-life events and it covers many theories we learned about in this class. Easy A was released in 2010 and directed by Will Gluck. It’s about a teenage girl named Olive who accidentally admits to her friend Rhi that she was having sexual relations with boys. She felt pressured into lying since her friend had already engaged in sexual acts with her boyfriend. A rumor then spread and many people in the school then ignored Olive because they thought what she did was an immoral act, but the guys started giving her more attention. I feel that this applies to many

In the film Ordinary People, we see the main protagonist, Conrad, suffer from major depressive disorder. Throughout the film, he shows symptoms of depression through challenges regulating sleep, depressed mood, thoughts of death and suicide, along with multiple other symptoms. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders or the DSM-V, lists the symptoms of depression as: depressed mood most of the time, reduced interest or enjoyment in most activities, challenges regulating appetite and weight, challenges regulating sleep, physical agitation or lethargy, having much less energy, unwarranted guilt, problems thinking, concentrating, or making decisions, and thinking of death and suicide (Meyers, 629).

Our country is rich in culture; the occupation of the Spanish, the American, and the Japanese gave the Philippines its diverse and unique culture. This exceptional culture we have in our country has produced numerous brilliant individuals, who up to this day are still well recognized. So it is safe to say that part of the reason why they became who they were is because of their culture; because of our culture. (Ong, 2011)

“The worst loneliness is to not be comfortable with yourself.” (-Mark Twain) Being a child of immigrant parents who move to American can be hard. There is a lingering feeling of not feeling like a child belongs. They are stuck in the invisible world between where their parents came from, in this specific case, Asia and where the child lives now. It can be difficult to be raised as an Asian American and learning both culture and traditions. Many Asian American kids end up deviating from the Asian culture and embracing the American culture. However, children of immigrants should embrace their own culture in order to keep traditions alive and be proud of who they are.

One central and important study of sociology is the study of everyday social life. Everyday life and sociology are definitely two distinct terms and situations, but they hold a close relationship. While sociology studies human interaction, everyday life consists of everyday human interaction. Everyday life is filled by human beings interacting with one another, institutions, ideas, and emotions. Sociology studies the interactions with all of these and shows how mere interaction resulted in things like ideas and institutions.

This person is a country boy through and through. Anything country he probably has/does it. For one, he really likes country music. It’s not a big interest, but he can two step. His family has a cattle farm, which he helps with. He also has two cows of his own, Sweet Talker and her calf George. Throughout the year, he shows his cow and calf in various 4-h programs and other competitions. I don’t know if this is necessarily country, but he plays man hunter with real horses. That’s definitely not something you see in the city. This friend also likes trucks… A LOT. He wants to me a mechanic and bought a truck before he could legally drive it. I think that speaks for itself about his big interest in trucks. His other major interest is cookies. I don’t call him Cookie Monster for nothing. So, we don't really have much in common except that we