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Ordinary People is the history of both Conrad and Calvin Jarrett. Because the original focuseson cardinal different people, there ar several conflicts end-to-end the novel that atomic number 18 specificto those individuals. The central question in Conrads story is whether he will be able torecover later on his self-destruction attempt. As Dr. Berger points out, half the people who attemptsuicide will translate to do it again at some point in their lives. The inclusion of Karens suicidetowards the end of the novel is a way of reminding the reader that Conrad whitethorn not haverecovered completely even when he seems to be getting better after all, Karen seemed tobe doing well when Conrad met her for a setback earlier in the novel.The main question in Calvins story is whether he and Beth will be able to make amends.Their conflict is based basically in a communication problem Calvin believes that theway to heal the wounds of the past tense is to talk through them and discus s feelings, whileBeth only wants to move on from the past. She dislikes Calvins attitude and hisinsistence on worrying about his son. The conflict betwixt the two parents is resolved atthe end of the novel when Beth leaves.Structurally, the novel does two things. First, it alternates back and forth between thestories of Calvin and Conrad, with each chapter shedding some overbold light on theirindividual struggles and conflicts. This alternating style gives the novel a kind ofmirror-image structure just as Conrad gets better over the pipeline of the novel until he isreally healed, the marriage between Calvin and Beth spirals downward until it fails.The uphold structural tactic of the novel is that it begins in a world that is already in someway ruined Buck has already died, and Conrad has already tried to commit suicide evenbefore the first chapter opens. On the one hand, this indicates that the book is a novelabout healing and build a ruined world, rather than about how that wo rld got ruinedin the first place. This structure, however, also gives the book a reverse coming-of-agefeel. There are countless childrens books about boys who begin the novel as innocentkids and after a series of life experiences end the novel as slightly more mature and wiseryoung adults (Huckleberry Finn and The Catcher in the Rye are examples.) OrdinaryPeople tells a coming-of-age story backwards. Conrad has already been through his present moment of great experience--the death of Buck--and the novel is really the story of how