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Conflict (narrative)

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Conflict in narrative comes in many forms. "Man versus man", such as is depicted here in the battle between King Arthur and Mordred, is particularly common in traditional literature, fairy tales and myths.[1]

Conflict is a major element of narrative or dramatic story structure, wherein opposing forces create challenges that introduce uncertainty and/or delay to if and when characters will achieve their goals. Conflict may also serve as a motivation for characters to take action.

The modern theory of literary conflict developed in European and European diaspora literature starting in the 20th century. It is often applied to other stories, framing them as centering around one or more conflicts, though that may or may not have been the intent of the author.

Basic nature

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A purpose of conflict is to create tension in the story, making readers more interested by leaving them uncertain which of the characters or forces will prevail.[2]

There may be multiple points of conflict in a single story, as characters may have more than one desire or may struggle against more than one opposing force.[3] When a conflict comes to a resolution and the reader discovers which force or character succeeds, it creates a sense of closure.[4] Conflicts may resolve at any point in a story, particularly where more than one conflict exists, but stories do not always resolve every conflict. If a story ends without resolving the main or major conflict(s), it is said to have an open ending, which can serve to ask the reader to consider the conflict more personally, and may not satisfy them, but obvious conflict resolution may also leave readers disappointed in the story.[5][6]

Conflict may be internal or external—that is, it may occur within a character's mind or between a character and exterior forces. External conflict is most visible between two or more characters, usually a protagonist and an antagonist/enemy/villain, but can also be against nature or something else.

Classification

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The basic types of conflict in fiction have been commonly codified as "man versus man", "man versus nature", and "man versus self."[7] Although frequently cited, these three types of conflict are not universally accepted. Sometimes a fourth basic conflict is described, "man versus society".[8][9] Some of the other types of conflict referenced include "man versus machine" (The Terminator, Brave New World), "man versus fate" (Oedipus Rex), "man versus the supernatural" (The Shining) and "man versus God" (A Canticle for Leibowitz).[10][11]

Man versus nature

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"Man versus nature" originally came from the "Nature versus nurture" argument, which was credited to be pioneered in the European canon by philosopher John Locke's An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690). The coinage came from Victorian polymath Francis Galton, the modern founder of eugenics and behavioral genetics when he was discussing the influence of heredity and environment on social advancement.[12][13][14] Galton was influenced by On the Origin of Species written by his half-cousin, the evolutionary biologist Charles Darwin.

This debate eventually became part of the social sciences milieu in the 20th century. With questions about it put forth in particularly sociology with the introduction of conflict theory by Lester F. Ward favoring more nature and the father of anthropology, Franz Boas. He outlined his theory in The Mind of Primitive Man (1911) established a program that would dominate American anthropology for the next 15 years. In this study, he established that in any given population, biology, language, material, and symbolic culture, are autonomous; that each is an equally important dimension of human nature, but that none of these dimensions is reducible to another.

This debate might have jumped to writing with Ayn Rand,[speculation?] a fiction writer and a philosopher, who argued that "man versus nature" is not a conflict because nature has no free will and thus can make no choices.[15] Though she argued against it, she still mentioned it as a possibility.

The conflict in this explanation is imaged as an external struggle positioning the character versus an animal or a force of nature, such as a storm or tornado or snow.[7][8] The "man versus nature" conflict is central to Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea, where the protagonist contends versus a marlin.[16] It is also common in adventure stories, including Robinson Crusoe.[1] The TV show Man vs. Wild takes its name from this conflict, featuring Bear Grylls and his attempts to survive nature.

Man versus man

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"Man versus man" conflict involves stories where characters are versus each other.[7][8] This is an external conflict. The conflict may be direct opposition, as in a gunfight or a robbery, or it may be a more subtle conflict between the desires of two or more characters, as in a romance or a family epic. This type of conflict is very common in traditional literature, fairy tales and myths.[1] One example of the "man versus man" conflict is the relationship struggles between the protagonist and the antagonist stepfather in This Boy's Life.[17] Other examples include Dorothy's struggles with the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and Tom Sawyer's confrontation with Injun Joe in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.[1]

Man versus self

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With "man versus self" conflict, the struggle is internal.[7][8] A character must overcome their own nature or make a choice between two or more paths—good and evil; logic and emotion. A serious example of "man versus himself" is offered by Hubert Selby Jr.'s 1978 novel Requiem for a Dream, which centers around stories of addiction.[18] In the novel Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk, published in 1996, as well as in its 1999 film adaptation, the unnamed protagonist struggles versus himself in what is revealed to be a case of dissociative identity disorder.[19] Bridget Jones's Diary also focuses on internal conflict, as the titular character deals with her own neuroses and self-doubts.[18]

Man versus society

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Sometimes a fourth basic conflict is described, "man versus society".[8] Where man stands versus a man-made institution (such as slavery or bullying), "man versus man" conflict may shade into "man versus society".[10] In such stories, characters are forced to make moral choices or frustrated by social rules in meeting their own goals.[1] The Handmaid's Tale, The Man in the High Castle and Fahrenheit 451 are examples of "man versus society" conflicts.[10] So is Charlotte's Web, in which the pig Wilbur fights for his survival versus a society that raises pigs for food.[1]

History

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As with other literary terms, these have come about gradually as descriptions of common narrative structures. Conflict was first described in ancient Greek literature as the agon, or central contest in tragedy.[20] According to Aristotle, in order to retain interest, the hero must have a single conflict. The agon, or act of conflict, involves the protagonist (the "first fighter") and the antagonist (a more recent term), corresponding to the hero and villain. The outcome of the contest cannot be known in advance, and according to later critics such as Plutarch, the hero's struggle should be ennobling.

Conflict, as a concept about literature, and centering it as a driver for character motivation and event motivation mainly started with the introduction of conflict theories in the 19th century. It moved to literature with Percy Lubbock in Craft of Fiction in 1921.[21] He spends the majority of his treaties on fiction arguing past stories were all about conflict, particularly Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace, though it was previously classed as a morality tale, using what would later be coined in 1967 as The Death of the Author, as his main literary theory. He mainly focused on conflict in events, rather than in characters.

This later gained traction with the introduction of characters having conflicts, with Lajos Egri's work on character throughout his body of instructive manuals on writing. He attempted to apply the idea of psychology to characters using mainly Sigmund Freud. Freud also drew heavily from ideas of conflict from Friedrich Nietzsche.[22][23] Nietzsche's idea about conflict are often cited by his soft readers as promoting agons, or a measured mode of struggle, as a cornerstone.[24]

Though this work has been attributed to Aristotle's Poetics, Aristotle himself did not promote conflict as a major force in narrative works. He argued for morality through pity and fear being the main point of the tale.[25] This error was mainly because of[citation needed] Syd Field's Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting where he invokes Aristotle's name in his arguments about conflict.

By the time of the 1980s, conflict was considered a cornerstone of all fiction,[26] though this was not true in the 19th century. The 19th century had morality tales, realism, absurdism, etc. All previous literature was often retconned to be about conflict, and argued into being about conflict, even if contemporaries didn't say it was.[citation needed] The main targets[citation needed] of this were often Shakespeare and Aristotle.[27][28][29][30]

In the 1980s conflict was justified, rather than with conflict theory, with saying that it added interest to the story.[26] The idea is that conflict brings tension to the story. The theory is tension adds interest.

Bertolt Brecht didn't think that conflict was the point of the plot, but conflict should be a starting point to a point of transformation, of uplift to transform the whole point of theater into being about fun.[31] He was known for[citation needed] hating Aristotle, commenting: "[B]y Aristotle's definition the difference between the dramatic and epic forms was attributed to their different methods of construction."[32]

Still there were critics of the idea that stories were all about conflict well into the 1980s, which mainly came from women,[33] such as Jean Mandler and Nancy S. Johnson who argued for development as the center of stories.[33] There were equal complaints from people of color that conflict didn't reflect what they thought story was about, such as Utako K. Matsuyama, and Toni Morrison, who commented to Charlie Rose that she didn't base Beloved around conflict, but that for her, it was about memory. Griots, who tell stories in West Africa, are a core source for memory of the history for their tribes.[34]

See also

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References

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  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Nikolajeva, Maria (2005). Aesthetic Approaches to Children's Literature: An Introduction. Scarecrow Press. p. 100. ISBN 978-0-8108-5426-0.
  2. ↑ Roberts, Edgar V.; Henry E. Jacobs (1986). Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing. Prentice-Hall. p. 103. ISBN 013537572X.
  3. ↑ Abbott, H. Porter (2008). The Cambridge Introduction to Narrative. Cambridge University Press. p. 55. ISBN 978-0-521-71515-7.
  4. ↑ Abbott (2008), 55–56.
  5. ↑ Toscan, Richard. "Open Endings". Playwriting Seminars 2.0. Virginia Commonwealth University. Retrieved 26 February 2013.
  6. ↑ Emms, Stephen (February 10, 2010). "Some conclusions about endings". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 February 2013.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Elizabeth Irvin Ross (1993). Write Now. Barnes & Noble Publishing. p. 108. ISBN 978-0-7607-4178-8.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 Lamb, Nancy (2008). The Art And Craft Of Storytelling: A Comprehensive Guide To Classic Writing Techniques. F+W Media, Inc. pp. 80–81. ISBN 978-1-59963-444-9.
  9. ↑ Stoodt, Barbara (1996). Children's Literature. Macmillan Education AU. pp. 33–. ISBN 978-0-7329-4012-6.
  10. 1 2 3 Morrell, Jessica Page (2009). Thanks, But This Isn't for Us: A (Sort Of) Compassionate Guide to Why Your Writing Is Being Rejected. Penguin. pp. 99–101. ISBN 978-1-58542-721-5. Retrieved 18 September 2012.
  11. ↑ Caldwell, Stacy; Catherine Littleton (2011). The Crucible: Study Guide and Student Workbook (Enhanced Ebook). BMI Educational Services. p. 24. ISBN 978-1-60933-893-0. Retrieved 18 September 2012.
  12. ↑ Galton, Francis (1875). "On Men of Science, their Nature and their Nurture". Proceedings of the Royal Institution of Great Britain. 7: 227–236.
  13. ↑ Galton, Francis (1895). English Men of Science: Their Nature and Nurture. D. Appleton. p. 9. Nature versus nurture galton.
  14. ↑ Moore, David (2003). The Dependent Gene: The Fallacy of "Nature Vs. Nurture". Henry Holt and Company. ISBN 9780805072808.
  15. ↑ Rand, Ayn (2000). The Art of Fiction: A Guide for Writers and Readers. Penguin. p. 27. ISBN 978-0-452-28154-7.
  16. ↑ Ballon (2011), p. 135.
  17. ↑ Ballon, Rachel (2011). Breathing Life Into Your Characters. Writer's Digest Books. p. 131. ISBN 978-1-59963-342-8.
  18. 1 2 Ballon (2011), p. 133.
  19. ↑ Pallotta, Frank (20 May 2014). "'Fight Club' Has A Bunch Of Hidden Clues That Give Away The Film's Big Twist Ending". Business Insider.
  20. ↑ Abbott, H. Porter (2008). The Cambridge Introduction to Narrative. Cambridge University Press. p. 55. ISBN 978-0-521-71515-7.
  21. ↑ Lubbock, Percy (2006-08-01). The Craft of Fiction.
  22. ↑ Chapman, A. H.; Chapman-Santana, M. (February 1995). "The influence of Nietzsche on Freud's ideas". The British Journal of Psychiatry: The Journal of Mental Science. 166 (2): 251–253. doi:10.1192/bjp.166.2.251. ISSN 0007-1250. PMID 7728371.
  23. ↑ Schorer, Joseph; Ellinger, Carl (2010-07-23). "From the Individual to Society (Part 2) - Sigmund Freud: Conflict & Culture | Exhibitions (Library of Congress)". www.loc.gov. Retrieved 2025-03-16.
  24. ↑ J.S., Pearson (2018-02-15). "Nietzsche's Philosophy of Conflict and the Logic of Organisational Struggle" (in German). Archived from the original on 2022-02-17. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  25. ↑ "The Poetics - 14 (Aristotle on the Art of Poetry)". www.authorama.com. Retrieved 2025-03-15.
  26. 1 2 Roberts, Edgar V.; Henry E. Jacobs (1986). Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing. Prentice-Hall. p. 103. ISBN 013537572X.
  27. ↑ "Conflict In Shakespeare". No Sweat Shakespeare. 2016-02-21. Retrieved 2025-03-15.
  28. ↑ "Human Conflict in Shakespeare". Routledge & CRC Press. Retrieved 2025-03-15.
  29. ↑ Review, The Blue; admin (2020-02-18). "Aristotle and Conflict". The Blue Review. Retrieved 2025-03-15.
  30. ↑ Roston, Murray (1980), "The Arch Antagonist", in Roston, Murray (ed.), Milton and the Baroque, London: Palgrave Macmillan UK, pp. 50–79, doi:10.1007/978-1-349-04982-0_2, ISBN 978-1-349-04982-0, retrieved 2025-03-15
  31. ↑ Bertolt Brecht. Internet Archive. Philadelphia : Chelsea House Publishers. 2002. ISBN 978-0-7910-6363-7.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link) CS1 maint: publisher location (link)
  32. ↑ From an essay by Brecht probably written in 1936; Brecht (1964, 70).
  33. 1 2 Matsuyama, Utako K. (1983). "Can Story Grammar Speak Japanese?". The Reading Teacher. 36 (7): 666–669. ISSN 0034-0561. JSTOR 20198301.
  34. ↑ Abdul-Fattah, Hakimah (2020-04-20). "How Griots Tell Legendary Epics through Stories and Songs in West Africa - The Metropolitan Museum of Art". www.metmuseum.org. Retrieved 2025-03-16.
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  • Literary terms Dictionary Online.
  • The "Basic" Plots In Literature. Information on the most common divisions of the basic plots from the Internet Public Library organization.
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