As a consequence of her unwillingness to adapt both problems are finally solved in the only way possible for Beth, the same way she solves everything else, running away and hiding from the trouble, trying to keep the past in the past, blaming it on someone else.
Beth is the cause for much of anguish felt by Conrad, as she is adamantly unforgiving when it comes to her son. At one point, Beth even states that she does not hate Con for what he has done, but that she cannot forgive him for it. Quintessentially she exhibits the idea that she cannot forgive him for surviving. She felt this way because she thought that Conrad had intended to hurt her as much as himself in his attempted suicide. For much of the novel, Conrad and his mother find it difficult to communicate because they are both too blindly stubborn to adjust their ways enough to forgive one another. This is summed up by one simple statement from Conrad, " my mother and I do not connect- (pp. 90). It is not until after a series of small, external conflicts that Con reaches a "turning point" and realizes that he must first forgive his mother before he can fully begin his healing process. After this revealing turning point, Con begins a steady path to recovery, with the assistance of those around him, such as Dr. Berger and Jeannine, and eventually his father, after his mother had left. Though his mother made no adjustments or efforts to help Conrad, through his own adaptation to his circumstances, he was able to begin, and follow, a path towards healing.
Ordinary People can be said to be structurally different from most other novels, as it begins with a world that is already partly ruined. It focuses only on the rebuilding process, unlike other novels which describe how it came to be ruined, along with how it is rebuilt. Before the book even begins, Conrad has already experienced the death of his brother, which he blames himself for, and has attempted to commit suicide.
