I could not but agree that the eternal family conflict but not Conrad’s sufferings should be in the center of the novel. What can be more horrible? Moreover, his wife, Beth did not support him so that he is abandoned by his family. He lost his eldest son and he is about to lose his second son. To my mind, the parents’ side is the rather difficult to understand and therefore I sympathize with him even more than with Conrad. Her lack of awareness that Conrad is already the only her son enables her to unleash her egoistic feelings that may harm her child. Truly, I despise Conrad’s mother for weakness as by this she shows her weakness. Cal tries to smooth the situation and find balance in the family thus searching for the imaginary happiness and past life. In the story, he serves as an intermediary between his wife Beth and his son. Father’s support and hard experienceĬalvin Jarrett Conrad’s father experiences his own hardships as the only parent that wants to help. If I were him, I would not know how to behave and the only thing that I would need badly is my parents’ love and respect. The most difficult for the boy is self-forgiveness that is hard to afford. I managed to perceive Conrad’s attempts to adjust to the normal life but his abnormal internal psychological state could not stand the happiness of life. To my mind, his weakness and incessant depression prove that he is a weak person that is not able to surpass the adversities.ĭespite the above, the book teaches how to deal with grief and to cope with it. However, Conrad’s behavior was a bit exaggerated as his obligation was to support his parents as well. Of course, it is hard to be a mother of a boy who committed suicide but I am sure that she should have done her best to support her only child and to help him to adjust to ordinary life. On the contrary, she could not forgive Conrad for trespass the life edge. I did not feel that his mother supports his son.

Ordinary people guest