Conflict
- Definition – A struggle between 2 opposing forces. This can include:
- Man vs Man
- This form of conflict will typically include a protagonist and antagonist in a mystery or thriller piece.
- Example: Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code
- Man vs Nature
- A character will struggle with external forces such as storms or animals.
- Example: Herman Melville’s Moby Dick
- Man vs Self
- Many times as readers this type of conflict will arise in good vs evil decisions within a character. While external forces can impact a characters internal decisions the decisions reside internally.
- Example: Edgar Allan Poe’s – The Tell Tale Heart
- Man vs Technology
- A newer subcategory as man faces a manmade machine or technology.
- Example: The Matrix
- Man vs Society
- A character does not face just one individual character, but several characters in a society as a whole. This typically we be a character facing the norms or values held by the society.
- Example: J. D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye
- Man vs Fate
- In this form a character, or protagonist, faces a foretelling of future events, such as death. This was a common form of conflict in Greek writings, as God’s would tell the fate of a hero, and it was up to the hero to ‘change the hand of fate’
- Example: Sleeping Beauty
- Man vs Man
- Origin – Noun or Verb - Middle English, from Latin conflictus: act of striking together
- Historical and Cultural context – First known use of the word conflict dates back to the 15th century.
- Significance of the term – Conflict is one of or the most well-known term used for literature and film creations. From the time we are each young and we begin to learn how to write short stories, typically one of the first things we learn is to have a protagonist and antagonist. As mentioned above there are many other forms of conflict outside of this specific type of conflict. As readers and viewers we seek out the differences that create friction between 2 opposing forces. This gives readers and viewers the chance to try to solve or relate to the challenges of the work. If an author would write a story about a boy going to school for the first time, having a good day, making friends, with no issues for one it would seem quite unreal, as we know there is always some type of conflict, and 2 it doesn’t make for an interesting story. Even as children the need for a way of solving or imagining different conflicts helps our brains to develop.
- 1 -2 key poems that provide examples of the term –
- Punishment by Seamus Heaney – The narrator has an internal struggle dealing with the conflicts of the girl vs society, as he includes himself in the societal group. On one hand the author just sees a deceased girl in the casket, while on the other hand he sees her as being punished for something she should not have been. The narrator struggles with if he should blame himself for this incident.