Depression In Judith Guest's Ordinary People

Ordinary: With no special or distinctive features; normal. In the novel Ordinary People by Judith Guest, Ordinary is contrary to the Jarrett family. In the beginning of the novel a 17 year old boy named Conrad has just gotten off release from a mental hospital for committing an act of suicide. Conrad’s guilt and grief of his brother’s death leads him to attempt suicide by slashing his wrists. When Conrad returns home and back to school, he struggles with trying to get his life back to “normal.” Conrad’s loss of identity, strained relationship with his mom and friends, and routine depression is an amalgamation of his not so ordinary life.
Relationship: The way in which two or more concepts, objects, or people are connected, or the state of being connected. Conrad has a difficult time with commending relationships coming back from the hospital. Connecting with people is what Conrad has a difficult time with, especially his friends. Conrad thinks …show more content…
It interferes with daily life, normal functioning, and causes pain for both the person with the disorder and those who care about him or her. A depressive disorder is not the same as a passing blue mood. Conrad’s mind is motionless. Conrad goes through the daily motions, daily ordinary life. Although nothing is ordinary about depression. Depression traps the mind of all hopelessness. In the state of depression life is meaningless, a life with no direction. Conrad’s first though in the very beginning of the book states his realm of depression. “To have a reason to get up in the morning, it is necessary to possess to guiding principle” (1). Not having a reason to get up in the morning means that life is meaningless at that point, and this is how Conrad’s depression deprives throughout the entire novel until the end of the novel where he finally forgives himself and stops blaming himself with survivors guilt from his brother’s