Chapters 18, 19, 20 & 21

Chapters 18, 19, 20 and 21
At the beginning of chapter 18 Conrad has to write his English exam. After the English exam he gave Jeannine a ride home from school. Later that night he called to talk to Karen and ask her out sometime and instead he got her mother who was quite rude and hung up on him. After that phone call he called Jeannine, they set up a date. In chapter 19 we find out that Calvin’s secretary quit and they have a new one named Sandy. While Ray and Calvin are out for dinner Ray tells Calvin that he’s worrying too much about Con and this upsets Calvin. Then he asks if everything is okay between Calvin and Beth. He goes on to say that Nancy and Beth had dinner together and Beth is really upset with Calvin. He goes on to say; “she thinks you’re out of focus. She says you’re obsessed with Con’s problems. You can’t think about anything else-“(Guest, page 160, Ordinary People). This upsets Calvin even more. Calvin decides to go to Dallas to play in the Lawyer’s Golf Tournament. Ray thinks it is a great idea for him to get away for a bit with Beth and spend some alone time. The next chapter is Conrad’s date with Jeannine. When Con first gets to Jeannine’s house he is introduced to her mom and little brother Mike. Conrad’s mom continuously guesses at which boy he was, giving Con the idea that there are many. Then Jeannine’s brother says “What’s your name? … You look like the boy that was here last Saturday.” (Guest, page 168, Ordinary People) When Conrad asks what the other boy’s name was Mike replied; “I forget. There is too many.” (Guest, page 168, Ordinary People) The date went well and they set another one for next Saturday. The Next Chapter Calvin and Beth are preparing to go to Dallas for the golf tournament. We learn that Beth is happy about this and so is Calvin. However, since the meeting with Berger Calvin’s mind has been going constantly. He keeps remembering things about Arnold and the orphanage. Wondering what he could’ve done differently. We also learned that Arnold didn’t like Beth at all.




Chapter 18, 19, 20 and 21

This section is about girls for Conrad. After Conrad wrote his English exam he gave Jeannine a ride home from school. After school he decided he wanted to cross number seven off his list. He called Karen, the girl from the hospital, instead of her he got her mother on the phone. Her mother was quite rude and hung up on him. After that phone call he called Jeannine. Jeannine and he set up a date for Saturday. He did it; he had crossed off number seven. This was also a great thing for Conrad as he had now felt a sense of accomplishment, something he hasn’t for a long time. Chapter 19 is very important in the novel because Calvin finds out how Beth feels. Ray tells Calvin that Beth said she thinks he’s obsessed with Con and that he can’t think about anything else. This is yet another bad sign. Not only is Beth upset that Calvin’s worried about Conrad, she won’t talk to Calvin about her problems. Calvin decided to go to the golf tournament in Dallas. He thinks it would be a great get-away for Beth and him. This shows that Calvin still cares about Beth and still wants to make her happy. Conrad’s date went very well the next night and they decided to set up another date for the following Saturday. Calvin’s mind starts to wonder again this section about Arnold. He is upset about the mistakes he made with Arnold. Calvin is starting to blame Beth for these mistakes, which is not a good sign. This means that Calvin is starting to stoop to her level and blame the other person for their own mistakes. Which brings us to another theme kind of tied in with everything; don’t blame others for your own mistakes