Ordinary People Essay
Ordinary People Essay
Calvin is a successful lawyer with plenty of money and a beautiful wife to go along with it. He was orphaned as a young boy, and had only one person that was even close to a fatherly figure for him, a man named Arnold Bacon. Bacon was a lawyer and wanted Calvin to become one, too. Calvin had two sons, Buck and Conrad. Buck died in a boating accident when he was a senior in high school. Shortly after, Conrad tried to commit suicide. These tragic events threaten the stronghold of their family, and will test whether or not the love each other or not.
In the beginning of the book Calvin thought he was supposed to earn a good living and have all of the material things in place, but he learns communication is essential in a marriage. He marries an attractive woman, named Beth, despite warnings by Bacon, “She’s not a sharer,” he told Calvin. The only thing Calvin expected from Beth as a wife was for her to stand by his side and look pretty. He soon realizes that a wife that’s only beautiful will not cut it, he wants to find out what’s inside of her. Calvin has a nice house in a great part of town, nice cars, and a beautiful wife. From the beginning of the book, Calvin and Beth think that money is life and it solves everything. That it even makes them better than anyone else. Unfortunately for them though, money doesn’t solve everything, and Buck dies. The family was hurt, they didn’t know what to do, and money couldn’t help them here (except for funeral expenses). Time had come for them to finally come to terms with the fact that just because your rich, it doesn’t mean that life is flawless. It was a hard time and the family needed comfort in each other, but none of them gave it to anybody.
Conrad was taught that following the rules was the proper thing to do, but later learns that you need to let your feelings surface, and tell people. As a result of Buck’s death Conrad drifts into depression. He bottles up his emotions until he finally can’t take it anymore. He lets go of the bottle by trying...