The Dysfunctionating Family: The Jarrett Family

The Jarrett family has a somewhat average past with a dark recent history. Initially, both parents, Beth and Calvin casually, neglected young Conrad. Upon his second son’s suicide attempt, however, Calvin became more attentive to Conrad’s needs. Firstly, Beth may be the most dysfunctional person in the family. Chronologically, her first silent scene is at breakfast. Beth makes breakfast for the family and Conrad, being the resident depressed teenager, says he isn’t hungry. Instead of insisting he eats, she avoids conflict by simply taking his food and throwing it away. Imagining myself as Beth’s conscience I might have said, Tell him you care for his well being, so even if he won’t eat the whole thing the two of you can compromise with …show more content…
His first scene is with Linda, his friend from the hospital. He is having a meal with Linda at a diner in town, but there isn’t much of a dialogue going on between the two of them. Linda ends up leaving and yelling at him to stop being so sad. As Conrad’s conscience I would have said, Tell her how you really feel, don’t skirt around the issue you need to problem solve. His second scene is with Beth and Calvin. Beth doesn’t want her picture taken and Calvin won’t give her the camera, but instead keeps trying to figure out how to use it. Eventually this aggravates Conrad and he yells for Calvin to give her the __ ___ camera. As his conscience I could have said, Calmly walk over and ask for the camera, or maybe you could ask your grandfather to help your father take the picture since he has used it before. Finally, we have Calvin, the smart one and the father. His only silent scene is the occurrence at the golf club. He gets in Beth’s face about how she treats Conrad and ends up yelling at her, really not a good conflict management strategy. This leads to their eventual divorce and Beth moving to Houston. All of this could have been avoided if Calvin listened to his conscience when it said, Calmly approach the issue and make sure she knows you are coming from a place of love and