Families Dynamics in Fiction Goldenberg and Goldenberg define a

Goldenberg and Goldenberg define a family as:

...a natural social system with properties all its own, one that has evolved a set of rules, roles, a power structure, forms of communication, and ways of negotiation and problem-solving that allow various tasks to be performed...(3)

Families can be functional or dysfunctional with dysfunctionality being associated with family members having several characteristics that make it difficult for them to solve problems and/or perform tasks efficiently. According to family therapist, Virginia Satir, these characteristics include: low self-worth; indirect, vague, or dishonest communication patterns; strict, rigid, unbending and everlasting rules; and fearful, placating, or blaming linkages to the larger society (Peterson and Nisenholz 212).

This paper examines the family dynamics of the fictional family in Judith Guest's book Ordinary People which was made into an academy-award winning move a few years back. The presented discussion not only describes the processes occurring within the family but also covers the differential impact of the story as a book and as a movie.

In general, Ordinary People is the story of a family struggling to deal with the accidental drowning death of a teenage son. Calvin Jarrett (played by Donald Sutherland in the movie) and his wife Beth (Mary Tyler Moore) and their surviving teenage son Conrad (Timothy Hutton) are a well-to-do family living in a wealthy Chicago

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know that there has been a period of stress or strain; essentially, this is what Conrad's mother angrily says to Calvin when he suggests that as a family they all attend therapy. It is important to note that this family secret, this myth was present long before the death of their son and, as Calvin tells his wife near the end of the movie, they might have been able to continue on maintaining the myth, if "a mess" hadn't happened. Calvin tells her that she "doesn't do mess," because she is not a strong person. He also tells her that he doesn't know if he even loves her anymore because of her coldness and withdrawal from her son and her growing hostility toward both of them. She responds without a word, simply going upstairs, packing her bags and leaving for her brother's house. This event, very near the book's ending, brings up a second family dynamic theme occurring in this family. According to Murray Bowen (Peterson and Nisenholz 224), dysfunctional families are very resistant to change. When it occurs in one member of the family, one or more other family members will change in a manner that maintains the dysfunctional homeostasis of the family system. In many cases, if one family member shows psychoemotional improveme

Category: Literature - F