CONFLICTA literary element

FIVE TYPES OF CONFLICT ARE RECOGNIZED THROUGHOUT

LITERATURE

Man vs. Man

A conflict between two or more people.

Example: two friends get in an argument and stop speaking to each other.

Man vs. Nature

A conflict between a person and an element of the natural world.

Example: a hiker gets lost in the mountains.

Man vs. Self

A conflict within a person.

Example: an alcoholic struggles to overcome his addiction.

Man vs. Society

A conflict between a person and the laws or beliefs of a group.

Example: a person goes to the capital and protests a new law.

Man vs. Fate

A conflict between a person and what is suppose to happen regardless of what you try to do to prevent it. It is usually in the hands of a god or the gods.

Example: a ancient Greek hero fights Poseidon, the god of the sea.

What kind of conflict is it?

A family loses its home in a hurricane.

Man vs. Nature

What kind of conflict is it?

A person running from the police is caught and arrested.

Man vs. Man

What kind of conflict is it?

A man blames God for the death of his wife, so he stops attending church and praying.

Man vs. Fate

What kind of conflict is it?

A recent high-school graduate is struggling to decide which college to go to.

Man vs. self

What kind of conflict is it?

A teenager disagrees with her school’s dress code, so she organizes a letter-writing campaign against it.

Man vs. Society