Ordinary People The novel Ordinary People explores how the heart and mind recover from afflictive losses. The author Judith Guest depicts how a tragedy can change lives drastically and even tear families apart. Conrad Jarretts recovery shows how people, slowly but surely, can go on with emotional stress differently, and those differing strategies are portrayed in this novel. The death of Jordan Jarrett affected the Jarrett family greatly. Calvin, his father, was one who dealt with the situation the best. He had been orphaned at a young age, so he had already dealt with the loss of his mothe