Conflict in Literature
What type of conflict is being depicted in the following pictures?
What’s the conflict?
What’s the conflict?
What’s the conflict?
What’s the conflict?
Now that you’ve mastered pictures, let’s try some text
Let’s read a story … Jack’s mother was sad because all the food was gone. She told Jack to take the last 3 shillings she had to go and buy some food. Along the way, Jack met up with a salesman who convinced Jack to buy some magic beans. Jack was so excited he ran all the way home! However, Mother was not happy at all with Jack’s poor choice and threw the beans out the window and sent Jack to his room. Jack was mad at himself all night for his stupid choice and barely slept the whole night!
The next morning Jack opened his window and to his surprise there was the biggest beanstalk he had ever seen! Forgetting about how hungry he was because he had no food to eat, Jack ran outside to see the beanstalk that had grown overnight. Knowing he should go to town to find work to earn money to buy food, he turned and headed for town. However, he could not get the beanstalk out of his mind. He wondered if he could climb to the top of the beanstalk. He decided it wouldn’t hurt to go to town a bit later, so he turned and ran back to the beanstalk.
One limb after another, Jack climbed the beanstalk getting higher and higher until he was beyond the clouds! And then he saw it! A kingdom in the clouds! He made his way to the beautiful castle and crept inside. To his delight he saw mounds and mounds of gold! Surely the great king who lived in this enormous castle wouldn’t miss just a bit of the gold, so Jack took a few pieces and tucked them away in his pocket. Although he had always been taught not to steal, he decided it would be better to steal than to starve to death.
Just then he heard a great grumbling voice … “Fi Fi Fo Fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman!” From around the corner a great giant emerged! He saw Jack and with one mighty swing, barely missed Jack with his enormous sword!
Jack ran back to the beanstalk, slide all the way down, and ran to his barn for his ax. While Jack frantically chopped and chopped the huge beanstalk, the giant quickly tried to make his way down the stalk. Just as the giant reached the ground, the stalk broke and fell right on the giant’s head! Jack no longer had to fear the giant! Jack took the gold from his pocket, went to town to buy a year’s supply of food, and he and his mother lived happily ever after!
What conflicts did you see in this story? Jack’s mom was mad at him. Jack was supposed to go to town, but he WANTED to climb the beanstalk. Jack KNEW he should not steal, but he WANTED the gold. Jack was afraid of the giant. Jack was running for his life! Jack was trying to kill the giant. Are these conflicts EXTERNAL or INTERNAL?
External v. Internal External Internal Takes place OUTSIDE of the body Takes place IN the character’s mind
External Man v. man … character against another character
External Man v. nature … character against natural forces such as floods, hurricanes, animals
External Man v. society … character against unjust element of government, culture, or society
Internal Man v. self … character struggling to overcome fear; struggling to make the right choice … struggling with the decisions / choices within one’s self
To sum up … Conflict is … a struggle between opposing forces 2 types External – 3 types Man v. man Man v. nature Man v. society Internal – only 1 type Man v. himself … found in ALL stories! Most often, MORE than 1 conflict in a story! … what causes the action! … what causes the plot to move forward!
Your turn … Think of a story you’ve read or a movie you’ve seen that includes … Man v. man Man v. nature Man v. society Man v. self Describe the conflict in each of these.