In chapter 17, Cal makes his first apparent change. He questions Conrad about Dr. Berger, and what they talk about during their sessions. He asks Conrad, "What would you think if I were to go and talk with him?" At this time in the book, Cal has sort of admitted that there are problems he needs to work out, but he still needed some kind of approval. When Conrad says, " See him if you want to, I don't care, It's okay with me." Most parents, would be like okay I will thanks, but Cal questions himself, "But do I want to? Why do I want to? What's happening?" He still does not subconsciously also out in public want to admit he has problems or that he needs to talk to someone. Even though, he has asked Conrad about going to talk to Berger.

As evident in this book Cal Jarrett is better off as an individual; when he needs to solve his problems. As we have noticed during the book Cal has many reflexive periods. When he is by himself that is normally when he notices that there are problems in existence in his and his families life.

At first, Conrad was trying to stop him from seeing Berger, because he though he wanted to talk about him, but when Cal said, no just to talk to him to figure things out. Conrad says you don't need to see him Dad you're fine. That makes Cal believe he really is fine and that he is just being dumb. He has sort of admitted to himself that there are problems, but he hasn't yet admitted to Conrad or Beth that he has problems he needs to work out for himself. At this time he still does not understand what is going on in his head. When he gets to Berger's office, to talk with him he doesn't talk about himself he talks about Conrad, and how he knew that there was something wrong before he tried to commit suicide. How he feels guilty for all that happened and how he is in the middle of all this fighting. He is also saying to Berger how he wants to fall off the fence on either side. Cal also talks about Beth and how she can't forgive Conrad for either surviving the boating accident or for being to much like her, but he doesn't know which one is the reason of why she is so mad at Conrad. I would say that at this point in the book, Cal is able to tell

Some common words found in the essay are:
Beth Cal, Dr Berger, Conrad Beth, Kevin Stillman, Conrad Chapter, Berger Conrad, Cal Conrad, Cal Jarrett, Calvin Jarrett, Ordinary People, book cal, dr berger, cal sort, cal makes, conrad fight, chapter 23, chapter 17, thinking changed, home thinking, talk conrad,
Approximate Word count = 973
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)