Family Quotes in Ordinary People

How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #4

Another duty of fatherhood. Checking up. Signing commitment papers, and other papers, authorizing certain specified treatments. Protecting yourself from further grief, from any more facts of history that do not change; that cannot be changed. (4.86)

Perhaps because Calvin is an attorney, he thinks of fatherhood from the point of view of paperwork. It's a way for him to displace his emotions. He can avoid feeling stressed or upset about the fact that his son is being committed to a mental hospital, since there is just so much paperwork to do. Ack.

Quote #5

If it was up to [Calvin], he would give [Conrad] everything—sun and moon, eternal happiness, serene and uncomplicated, Here, will this fix it? (11.58)

As a dad, Calvin would do anything to help his son, and he feels helpless and hopeless that nothing he can do will change how Conrad feels. Conrad must help himself.

Quote #6

"Listen, my mother and I do not connect, I told you that before." (12.29)

The distance between Conrad and Beth grows wider as the book progresses. Both of them talk a lot to others about not connecting, but neither one of them makes much of an effort to actually connect.