The Relationship Between Characters In Ordinary People By Judith Guest

Kindred by Octavia Butler is a novel about a female African American, Dana, going back to the past using time travel at a time where there was slavery to make sure that she exists. Despite the novel being primarily about Dana’s troubles which she encounters in the past, her interracial relationship with her husband Kevin plays a central role in the novel. While many critics and scholars argue that the interracial relationship between Dana and Kevin is unconventional because the couple’s love isn’t depicted as psychologically unhealthy, as many works after WWII depicted relationships between whites and blacks the exact opposite. Guy Mark Foster an Assistant Professor of English at Bowdoin College argues that Octavia Butler manages to conceal

During the second session, the family was provided individual opportunities to relate his or her perceptions of the struggles in the family. Using Claudia as the identified patient, the family related struggles directly associated with Claudia’s behavior (Nichols, 2013, p. 15). Whitaker (1978) conceptualized the issues in a different perspective stating, “sounds like Claudia is in charge of getting Mom and Dad to start fighting, and you and Laura are in charge of helping them stop” (p. 11). Whitaker also indicated the parallels involving Carolyn’s anger at Claudia for hiding in her room and David’s propensity to hide in his study (p. 11). Using the unconscious frame of reference from session one, another conceptualization that was presented was that of Don’s willingness to talk as the reason that the family had not wanted to bring him to the first session (p. 12).

Calvin Jarrett from Ordinary People is devoted to his family and it means everything to him. He is always concerned with how Conrad is doing after his suicide attempt. Beth said “Please! Can't we just go and have a good time for these few days? Is this what you got me here for, so you could just make me say what you want me to say.”

Some scenes that display violence include, but are not limited to, the french toast scene in which she forcefully throws out Conrad’s breakfast after he said he was not hungry. Also, when Conrad accuses her of not visiting him when he was in the hospital she gets violent. Both of these would be classified as attacking or controlling. Some examples of Beth showing silence would include the talk about the dog with Conrad, which would be considered avoiding. Also, when Calvin was talking to her about his feelings she displays withdrawing by leaving the room altogether. The most important conflict management that could help this would be to create safety. Using the STATE technique would also be helpful. In this case Beth could talk to Conrad about what she has felt and observed over the past weeks (Sharing her facts), and then tell Conrad how she feels about the whole situation (Telling her story). Next she needs to ask Conrad how he feels (Ask for the other person’s views), reveal that she does not know how her story ends (Talk Tentatively), and lastly she should play devil’s advocate if necessary (Encourage testing). In doing this, both parties, Conrad and Beth, could understand each other and avoid future

The Other Side of the Bridge by Mary Lawson is a book that depicts two different people, that mainly focuses on jealousy, rivalry and the power of obsession over half a century. There are many characters in the novel and they build relationships with one another that eventually become intertwined. The relationships that are built end up having an effect on the character, and contributes something different to his understanding of himself and the decisions he makes. Ian in the novel is an example of that, where the relationships he builds with the others, helps him find who he is as a person and affects the decisions he makes. Specifically through the relationships with Pete, his father, and Jake, he

Nancy Nguyen ENG 4U1 Ms. Miszczak March 12, 2015 Religious and The Effect of Power in a Small Society Oscar Wilde once said: “Everything in the world is about sex except sex. Sex is about power.” Here, he shows his opinion about the rights between men and women, which means men is the one control the power. As much as same idea in the novel A Complicated Kindness written by Miriam Toews when women are punished for their actions, while men are not.

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan tells the story of Lindo and her daughter Waverly, two Chinese-Americans immigrants. Lindo came to America after escaping her arranged marriage in China in search of a better future for herself and her family. A few years after arriving in America, Lindo gave birth to a daughter whom she named Waverly. Lindo teaches Waverly the power of ‘invisible strength’ and nurtures her natural chess talent, all with the intention of providing better opportunities for her daughter.  These actions however have the opposite effect because as Waverly grows up, she  becomes vexed with her mothers controlling nature, and Lindo trying to seek a claim to Waverly’s success at chess. Lindo and Waverly conflict as Lindo wants Waverly to have the chances she was not given growing up, but fears Waverly will lose touch and disregard her Chinese heritage.

Beth’s nonchalant attitude towards Conrad becomes increasingly obvious and begins to really frustrate him, ultimately leading him to lash out at her, “ ‘listen, don’t give me that, the only reason you care, the only reason you give a fuck about it is because someone else knew about it first! You never wanted to know anything I was doing or anything I wasnt doing’ ” (Guest: 110). It is evident that Conrad constantly tries to spark conversations with his mother hoping that she will give him her undivided attention, but it only results in him feeling as though he is a burden. The emotional detachment from his mother forces him to distance himself from his entire family thinking that it would some how make Beth happy. Instead of forcing himself to deal with his mom’s distant attitude he exclaims, “I know why she never came out there, not once! I know! Hell she was going to goddamn Spain and goddamn Portugal, why should she care if I was hung up by the goddamn balls,” revealing that he knows his mom has abandoned him as a son and has to deal with the fact that he is not the favorite son in the family. He also comes to the realization that his mom is constantly trying to run away from the responsibility of parenting and is still unable to show any kind of affection to her son who just tried to commit suicide. Rather than asking how Conrad is feeling, she plays victim as if Conrad has rejected her and

The short story “Shiloh” by Bobbie Ann Mason gives insight into how a tragic event can change the course of one’s life. In “Shiloh”, there is a man named Leroy married to a woman named Norma Jean. Leroy was a truck driver who was on the road for many years, however due to a devastating accident on the road he had returned home to recover from his injuries. Since Leroy had been gone for such a long period of time, Norma Jean was not entirely comfortable having him around the house. To add to the dismal reality of Leroy and Norma Jean’s situation, Leroy’s presence in the house reminded Norma of their baby that had died of SIDS (Sudden infant death syndrome) before Leroy had gone on the road to work. Leroy not having much to do because of his injury, spends most of his time making replica cabins out of Popsicle sticks hoping to one day build a real cabin for him and Norma Jean. Since they got married Leroy promised he would one day build a house for Norma Jean. However, Norma Jean is not interested in living in a cabin. She wants a real house, and as a result of Leroy’s unwillingness to try anything new and productive, she eventually tells Leroy that she does not want to be with him anymore. Mason’s short story “Shiloh” uses different types of characters and well-chosen symbols to represent the theme of how tragic events can either motivate a person or completely demoralize them.

“Suzy and Leah” by Jane Yolen is a story about the relationship between two girls. One character is Suzy Ann McCarthy, an American girl in 1944. Suzy assists a German-born Jew named Leah Shoshana Hershkowitz that was put in an American camp. Throughout the story, the relationship between Suzy and Leah changes after they get to know each other.

Lauren started dating a guy she met during her first year of University. I have never been in a relationship before and have no idea what a relationship is all about. When she came back for the summer, she would talk to me about conflicts that would arise in her relationship. I could never give her my opinion or suggestion because I have no personal experiences in a relationship. Now that she has a boyfriend I find it hard to connect and relate to some of the problems she wants to talk about. Unplanned Parenthood from Secrets & Confidences focuses on the conflict between Jennifer and her friends. Jennifer is unable to have kids and all her friends are starting families. She feels as if she can not relate to her friends anymore since they would spend a lot of time talking about their kids. She feels more comfortable talking with male friends because they never talk about their families. Jennifer stated that: “I don’t fit in. But now I don’t fit in because I’m exotic to them, not because I’m tragic” (Munro,139). To relate Jennifer’s conflict to my friendship, I feel exotic like Jennifer because all my friends have boyfriends and I feel like I don’t belong

Beth was raised by the mob. She’s never gotten herself into a situation her family couldn’t drag her out. So when those closest to her wind up dead or missing, she’s left to her own devices. She quickly realizes how hard it is to survive on her own.

How do other characters interact with your character? Is your character well-liked, protected, disliked? How do you know?

Problems in America are countless and there has only a handful taken care of. The ones we mainly focus on our social problems. Many people care about these problems but very little is done to actually take care of them. One problem we have is the way we use our ethics in psychiatry. The ethics in psychiatry is centered around many different activities.

Greater people live with good status and can take care of their family as well as their relatives and clans.