Reading Tip of the Week: Types of Conflict

Conflict is found in all literature. Every story you will ever read has a problem that needs to be solved. That's conflict.

These are the four types:

Man vs. Self is the only internal type of conflict. This is when a character is torn between two paths or ideas, or must make a difficult decision. An example of Man vs. Self would be A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Ebenezer Scrooge is confronted by his past, his present, and his future and must amend his ways.

Man vs. Man is the most common type of conflict. This is when the character is in conflict with another character. An example of Man vs Man conflict would be Sherlock Holmes novels and stories. Holmes tracks down the bad guys - often one bad guy: Professor Moriarty.

Man vs. Nature occurs when the character is pitted against a natural event or occurrance. An example of this would be Jack London's To Build a Fire, a man who is lost in the wilds of Alaska struggles not to freeze to death.

Man vs. Society comes into play when a character when a character is out of sync with the society in which he lives. An example of this would be Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. The Monster want desperately to be accepted and to be loved, but he knows that this can never be.

All four types can be found in movies and on television, too. For example:

Man vs. Self: Good Will Hunting shows the character's internal struggle between loyalty to his friends and going on the achieve his full potential. Casablanca shows Rick's internal struggle between saving the woman who broke his heart (and her husband), or saving himself from the Nazis.

Man vs Man: Batman puts the superhero up again bad guy The Joker. The police on Law & Order track down criminals. Any "good guy vs. bad guy" book, movie, or TV show would fall into this category.

Man vs. Nature: Jaws shows characters tracking down a maneating shark. Disaster movies also fall into this category: Deep Impact, The Day After Tomorrow, Earthquake, Dante's Peak.

Man vs. Society: Gattaca shows a man trying to fit into a future society in which humans are genetically engineered. The Matrix shows characters rebelling against a society in which reality is an illusion.

Keep in mind that all of the types of conflict can be present in the same book or movie. Titanic is a good example of this. Rose is in love with Jack, but at first feels some loyalty to her family's station (Man vs. Self). Jack is in conflict with Cal for Rose's affections (Man vs. Man). Everyone on the ship is in danger when the ship sinks (Man vs Nature). Jack tries to be polite to Rose's upper class friends and family, but he just doesn't fit in (Man vs. Society).