The Holocaust Family Conflict

Ever since Buck died, the Jarrett family has not been the same. Buck, one of the two sons of Beth and Calvin Jarrett, is killed in a traumatic boating accident, while Conrad, the other son, is still alive. Conrad had to witness his brother being taken away by the strong current and drowning in the ocean while he clung onto the boat for dear life. Now the Jarrett family is dysfunctional and communicates in a way that causes many problems everyone in the family. The majority of the time, the family does not talk about Buck’s death. They bottle up their feelings, using silence as a defense mechanism until eventually all the unspoken problems burst out in violent verbal attacks and temper tantrums. The worst part of all this family conflict is …show more content…
Beth is a very passive aggressive person and tends to bottle up her feelings instead of telling people how she really feels. She tries to make everything seem good and happy, but solving problems is not always going to be happy and easy. Early on in the movie, Beth shows her tendency to mask her feelings like when she hears Conrad is not hungry and she immediately puts his favorite breakfast through the garbage disposal in the blink of an eye. She could have just as easily told him that she felt hurt because she spent extra time making his favorite breakfast and he did not even want it, but she chose masking as her weapon of …show more content…
Calvin is one of the more calm members of the family, but this does not mean he never has problems communicating. Just like everyone else in the family, Calvin has a hard time showing how he feels. There are a few times in the movie where he lashes out and starts a fight or joins in. The few times in the movie depicting him confronting a conflict are mostly fight responses instead of flight responses. Calvin does not seem to physically fight anyone, but he does use words to fight people in arguments. Calvin is particularly controlling in a scene near the end of the movie when he brings up a conflict that has been bothering him since the death of Buck. He confronts Beth about when she made him change what he was wearing when they were going to Buck’s funeral. Calvin brought up this argument right out of the blue which surprised Beth. It was surprising because he has always kept his feelings hidden away. He one time he did choose to tell her how he felt, all his bottled up anger came out. This would be preventable with the help of some simple communication and conflict management skills like clarifying why her reaction to what he was wearing upset him so