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Let's be honest—literature would be a little boring without conflict.
As painful as it is to read about our favorite characters going through
hardships, these struggles are necessary to keep us engaged,
entertained, and turning pages.
Given the amount of literature in the world, it's inevitable that
there will be variations in the types of conflict characters experience.
Of course, each type is not mutually exclusive; stories often have
overlapping struggles, containing multiple characters and storylines.
For example, in Les Misérables, Jean Valjean is in conflict
with his society, himself, and another person (Javert)—not to mention
the different conflicts other characters experience amongst each other!
Considering the many types of conflict that exist within literature,
let's look at seven of the most common, using examples from famous
novels to illustrate each type.
Person vs. Person
Conflict that pits one person against another is about as classic as a
story can get. This type of conflict is pretty much self-explanatory,
with one person struggling for victory over another. There are countless
examples of this type of conflict in literature.
In fact, the instances throughout the history of literature are so numerous that mythologist Joseph Campbell wrote The Hero with a Thousand Faces,
a book outlining the archetype of a hero going on a journey and
overcoming an enemy. The book eventually inspired George Lucas to create
the character of Luke Skywalker. Another example, mentioned in the
introduction, is the conflict between Javert and Jean Valjean in Les Misérables, who clash due to their conflicting opinions on justice and mercy.
Person vs. Self
In this type of conflict, a character finds him or herself battling
between two competing desires or selves, typically one good and one
evil. You won't get a more obvious example than The Call of the Wild, in which the protagonist (in this case, a dog) is torn between a domesticated self and wild self.
Person vs. Fate/God(s)
This type of conflict occurs when a character is trapped by an
inevitable destiny; freedom and free will often seem impossible in these
stories. You'll find this trope in Greek tragedy: Oedipus is fated to
marry his own mother and Odysseus finds himself sailing throughout the
Mediterranean due to the anger of Poseidon. What can humans do in the
face of the gods and fate? Only endure, it seems.
Person vs. Nature
In this type of conflict, humankind comes up against nature, battling
for survival against its inexorable and apathetic force. The hero may
be forced to confront nature, or the protagonist may be seeking the
conflict, trying to exert dominance over nature.
Probably the most famous example of this type of conflict is Herman Melville's Moby Dick;
it tells the story of a man's obsession with overcoming
nature—specifically, a whale. A shorter example (and on a slightly
smaller scale—smaller boat, smaller fish) is Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea.
Person vs. Society
Cue the dystopian genre. The person-against-society conflict follows
the storyline of an individual or a group fighting (sometimes
successfully, sometimes not-so-successfully) against injustices within
their society.
While the characters of George Orwell's Animal Farm are
animals rather than people, it still illustrates a story driven by
rebellion against a society, as the characters struggle against a
corrupt power structure, create a new society, and continue to
experience struggles within the new society.
Person vs. the Unknown/Extraterrestrial
This is a common thread in science fiction and supernatural horror
movies and books. In this type of conflict, the protagonist battles
against an entity that isn't entirely known or comprehensible, whether
it is extraterrestrial or metaphysical. Think of Stephen King's The Shining (or many of King's books, for that matter). On the science fiction side, H.G. Wells' 1898 novel The War of the Worlds is an example of a group (humankind) clashing with an alien race (Martians).
Person vs. Technology/Machinery
The popularity of this genre has risen steadily over the last hundred
years, and in the face of increasing mechanization and improving
artificial intelligence, it's not hard to see why. This type of conflict
focuses on a person or group of people fighting to overcome unemotional
and unsympathetic machinery that believes it no longer requires
humanity.
Arthur C. Clarke's 2001: A Space Odyssey, for example, pits
astronaut Dave Bowman against the super-intelligent HAL 9000, which
believes Dave's shortcomings as a human being mean he must be forcibly
removed from the mission.
Conclusion
Whether you're enjoying literature, analyzing it, or writing it
yourself, knowing these seven types of conflict will help you gain a
greater understanding of what makes a story so compelling. Hopefully, you enjoyed the post. If you have any query, you can
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Original source: scribendi.com
