Family Therapy: Alienation

The family in Ordinary People immediately evokes feelings of alienation. On the surface, the Jarretts are a picture of middle-class perfection, if one ignores Conrad's suicide attempt, which frames the drama in terms of family therapy. Imagining oneself as part of that family evokes a sense of dread at the prospect of being isolated even when the entire group is present to one another. The main effect of Bucky's death appears to have been to incite Beth and Conrad to withdraw from the world--he because of guilt, she because of anger. Conrad's withdrawal is more noticeable not only because of the suicide attempt but also because he does not seem to have the maturity to conceal his behavior behind the screen of social accomplishment and authority. That artfulness belongs to Beth, who may not even recognize her project of concealment; certainly she does not acknowledge the depth her anger toward Conrad until it bursts out of her at the golf course. Meanwhile, Calvin appears to be searching for some method of reconnecting with his wife and remaining son, as if he sees the possibilities of salvaging and rebuilding family life.

But it is obvious that he is isolated as well, unable to express himself, or perhaps not alert enough to discern the emotional distance between himself and his wife. What becomes obvious to the impartial observer--that Beth does indeed hold Conrad responsible for the favored son's death and that she never loved Conrad equally with his brother--is a

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wed as negative examples of certain values. A value of first importance is honesty, one assumption being that, inside the family unit, the members do not deceive each other about feelings or about what they want. This family is trapped in a situation of emotional dishonesty, with emotional deception being the norm rather than the rule. The depth of that deception can be seen in the apparently healthy mother-son relationship between Beth and Bucky. The fact of strong attachment between the two can be interpreted as a rare and wonderful emotional connection--or as a situation that fostered dependence of the son on the mother and prevented the son from becoming strong enough to save himself. In that regard, Bowen's family theory explains that one's failure to make behavior or attitude changes that differentiate one from the "family ego mass" could foster mental illness if the family itself functions pathologically (Bowen 108). If Beth's attachment was pathological--not incestuous but emotionally needful and obvious, perhaps--then Bucky might not have been prepared either physically or emotionally to look out for himself. The film is silent on the content of the Beth-Bucky relationship, but Beth's emotional devastation suggests that i

Category: Psychology - F