Comparing crow lake and ordinary people

In the novels Crow Lake and Ordinary People two comparable characters are established: Kate Morrisson and Conrad Jarrett. Despite the dissimilar settings, both characters share a related image of their older brothers: Matt Morrisson and Jordan (Buck) Jarrett. Kate and Conrad both describe their brothers as two amazing individuals whose positive qualities surpass those of anyone whom they know. When Kate and Conrad succeed at something that their brothers failed at, they cannot enjoy their success. This is because Kate and Conrad cannot accept their brothers’ failures.

In the novel, Crow Lake, the narrator, Kate Morrisson speaks of her relationship with her older brother, Matt Morrisson. Kate depicts Matt as an object of perfection. He is her teacher. When Kate chooses her profession as an invertebrate ecologist it is a direct result of Matt’s passion for the ponds that he shared with her as a child (Page 190). Kate speaks of what a genius Matt was and how hard he always worked. In one passage Kate comments on Matt’s skills, saying,

I don’t think anyone doubted that Matt would win a scholarship, but I don’t think even his teachers realized quite how well he would do.

By referring to Jacob as “the perfect child” and Conrad as “the not-so-perfect child” he displays Conrad’s feelings towards his older brother. People are constantly remembering great times they had with Buck, and how he always made people laugh. In one passage his father recalls Buck saying, “…Jordan, his light-hearted son, the one who never worried, who believed they would all live forever” (Page 34). Buck is also continually remembered and phrased for his championship swimming. In one instance Conrad overhears a conversation his friends are having about Buck and one boy comments, “…I don’t know how you can listen to the lecture one more time about Buck Jarrett, the all-time great swimmer of the world” (Page 178). Both Kate and Conrad think that their brothers are perfect.

…If things had turned out differently, it would have been Matt standing in front of them [the class] instead of me. If that had been the case, not one of them would have been yawning. I am not exaggerating this. I am not glorifying him. It’s a fact. If Matt had been speaking to them, they would have been riveted (Page 200).

During Kate’s life, in Crow Lake, Matt makes a decision that changes Kate’s entire life. At age eighteen, Matt gets a girl, Marie Pye, pregnant. As a result he is forced to resign his scholarship to the university and consequently his education and the opportunities that came wi

Some topics in this essay:
Conrad Buck, Morrisson Kate, Kate Conrad, Marie Pye, Conrad Berger, Buck Page, Ordinary People, It’s Matt, Conrad Jarrett, Lake Matt, kate conrad, ordinary people, crow lake, conrad buck, passage kate, conrad jarrett, kate morrisson, buck jarrett, failed succeeded, conrad accept, kate idolizes matt, buck jarrett kate, success ordinary people, kate morrisson conrad, morrisson conrad jarrett,