Types of Conflicts in Literature Mrs Smith Ponderosa

Types of Conflicts in Literature Mrs. Smith Ponderosa HS 2015 -16

What is a conflict? A problem that characters face in a story. Often the climax and falling action of a story are connected to the solution of a conflict. There are SIX types of conflicts.

Person Vs. Self When a character has a problem inside of themselves, an internal conflict Examples A small boy trains to make the team A girl learns to respect herself

Think/Pair/Share • Talk to person sitting to your left about an internal conflict that you have. Then, listen to them discuss their internal conflict. • Together, identify an internal conflict from a recent fictional text or a non-fiction text in this class.

Person Vs. Person When a character has a problem with another character Example Two girls fight over a boy Two boys fight over a power struggle

Think/Pair/Share • With the person sitting to your left, discuss a person vs. person conflict between two literary characters from a recent reading. • Then discuss a major person vs. person conflict in national or global current events.

Person Vs. Nature When a character has a problem with weather, animals, or hunger. Example An Eskimo must fish in extreme cold to feed his baby. Snowboarders are stranded by avalanche

Person Vs. Society A character struggles against an issue affecting an entire community. Examples A woman refuses to move to the back of a bus because of the color of her skin. A group of students challenge the dress code. Current: marriage license clerk

Man Vs Machine (technology) • Man creates technology to make life easier, yet ironically technology can put man out of work, using robots to replace humans for more jobs (computer “waitresses’’ at Chili’s, order takers at Mc. Donald’s, checkout clerks at King Soopers) • If man makes a robot with exceptional artificial intelligence will robots eventually battle man? Science fiction books and movies love to explore that theme.

Person Vs. Supernatural A character has a problem with ghosts, monsters, or things not of this world. Super = Beyond Natural = this world Example A child thinks that his house is haunted. . .

Think/Pair/Share • With an assigned partner (divided among pairs discussing nature, society and supernatural) identify a conflict in he conflict category you were assigned (nature, society or supernatural). Strive to identify a fictional and non-fictional example.