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Ordinary People by Judith Guest is the story of a
dysfunctional family who relate to one another through a
series of extensive defense mechanisms, i.e. an unconscious
process whereby reality is distorted to reduce or prevent
anxiety. The book opens with seventeen year old Conrad,
son of upper middle-class Beth and Calvin Jarrett, home
after eight months in a psychiatric hospital, there because he
had attempted suicide by slashing his wrists. His mother is a
meticulously orderly person who, Jared, through projection,
feels despises him. She does all the right things; attending to
Jared's physical needs, keeping a spotless home, plays golf
and bridge with other women in her social circle, but, in her
own words "is an emotional cripple". Jared's father, raised in
an orphanage, seems anxious to please everyone, a
commonplace reaction of individuals who, as children,
experienced parental indifference or inconsistency. Though a
successful tax attorney, he is jumpy around......

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Approximate Word Count: 1337
Approximate Pages: 6 (250 words per double-spaced page)

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