Struck Together: Conflict and Story

Did you know the word conflict comes from the Latin words "struck together?" This image of being struck together reminds of a person trying to build a campfire in a wilderness with flint and steel. Like this guy:

Basically, without friction, there is no fire. And without conflict, there is no story. Now that we are in the third fifth of your free choice novels, there should be multiple strands of conflict revealed. You will be analyzing one of them. You will locate a place in the text where the author is developing conflict. You will also need to identify what kind of conflict you've found. 

Probably, your conflict will be one of these four most common types:
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1. Character versus Character
2. Character versus Society
3. Character versus Self
4. Character versus Nature

Let's look at examples of these four types of conflict using music videos from the 90's. (Either the 90's were a particularly conflicted decade, or I just remember it like that because those were the years I was in middle school.) In our Curriculum TEAMS meeting of next week, we'll analyze one of these videos together.

1. Character versus Character

Brandy versus Monica. 

2. Character versus Society

Gwen Stephani versus the Patriarchy. 

3. Character versus Self

John Michael Stipe versus his own Faith.

4. Character versus Nature

Fran Healy versus the Rain (and the Scottish Highlands).

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And there you have it, the 4 most common types of conflict. Less common (and not from the 90's) are the following two types of conflict: Character versus Supernatural (perhaps relevant for those of you reading vampire or fantasy stories) and Character versus Technology.

Character versus Supernatural

Michael Jackson versus the Undead. Further back to 80's. Have you guys ever seen this before? The TikTok aficionados out there have something to learn from Michael's dance moves, as do we all. Watching this video is a cultural education in itself.

Character versus Technology

Janelle Monae versus the Androids. And now we're back in the 2000's. Janelle Monae: ALSO A GREAT DANCER, RIGHT? So much cultural commentary in this video, too.