LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 16:10 October 2016
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.
         C. Subburaman, Ph.D. (Economics)
         N. Nadaraja Pillai, Ph.D.
         Renuga Devi, Ph.D.
         Soibam Rebika Devi, M.Sc., Ph.D.
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

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Consequences of Family Disintegration in Judith Guest’s Ordinary People

Radhakrishnan, C., Ph.D. Research Scholar


Abstract

This paper focuses on one failed family and its anxiety over the sudden death of a person and a suicide attempt of another one simultaneously. The primary focus is on growing children are increasingly more and more isolated from the family and other friends. The author portrays the one unsuccessful family unit and their inability to overcome their present problems among the members of the family. The events of the novel are strongly influenced by the past, notably the protagonist's brother's sudden demise in a boating accident. Each one of the family is worried about the past at the same time, and they have forgotten their present life because they are dwelling in the past. On the other hand, the lack of communication gap between the protagonist’s father and mother’s relationship make wider from the beginning to end of the novel. They fight more often internally but not openly at least through some words of argument. Their personal relationship is saying that they love each other but never sharing and showing in a better relationship. In the end, both the protagonist and his father have come closer, but his mother leaves them for an indefinite period. Both father and son do not know any reason for her leaving and the rest of the family shed tears at the end.

Keywords: pain, mental illness, struggle, alienation, death, suicide attempt

Introduction

Judith Guest is a screenwriter and novelist, her successful novel Ordinary People (1976) propelled her fame as a best-selling author. The movie based on the novel was an award-winning film directed by Robert Redford. Second Heaven (1982) is also much-admired more audience not like the first novel. These are merely set in contemporary middle-class suburbia. Judith Guest's introduces her characters especially troubled adolescence males as a central figure. The characters struggle with problems such as: suicide, depression, isolation, divorce, and child abuse. These similar themes reflect in her first two novels. Guest's Ordinary People begins with the bumper stickers as means of expressing what that principle can be for different people. When the novel begins, the protagonist is introduced as a high school student without guiding principle. He is simply lying on his bed in the morning, thoughts about the different things he has to complete. He is unable to move from the bed and is struggling to resume his life with family and other friends.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Radhakrishnan, C.
Ph.D. Research Scholar
Bharathiar University
Coimbatore – 641 046
Tamilnadu
India
rkradhakrishnan6@gmail.com
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