Introduction
Model Essays
What does a highly qualified essay look like? The writers of these two essays were responding to this question:
- First define what is meant by the term conflict in literature. Then, identify the major types of conflict, illustrating the presence of each in selected literary works.
Analyze both responses to better understand the distinction between an exceptional and an average essay. Notice the difference in key areas such as development and support of ideas.
Essay One – Exemplary, full-credit response
- Conflict in literature is a term that refers to the portrayal of opposing forces within a literary work. Opposing forces are the difficulties or barriers encountered by fictional characters. These confrontations become the basis of plot, their evolving resolution essentially forming the storyline of a work of fiction. There are four major types of conflict: person against person, person against self, person against nature, and person against society.
Person against person involves the conflict between a character and one or more other characters. The opposing force here may be physical, emotional, or intellectual. An obvious example of person against person conflict is seen in “The Next Conquest” where the entire story consists of the main character Billy’s physical fight for survival against the neighborhood gang that relentlessly persecutes him because of his values that so differ from theirs. This conflict is also evident in the intense emotional struggle between Violet and her fiancé, Evan, featured in “The Ring of Disappointment.” Violet gives dramatic voice to this interpersonal struggle when she exclaims near the end of the story, “I have suffered your controlling nature since we first met, Evan, and now I can no longer tolerate your utterly self-centered, destructive behavior.”
A second type of conflict, person against self, involves the internal struggle of a character who encounters opposing thoughts or feelings within. This conflict against self typically generates emotions such as anger, worry, anxiety, or depression and is exemplified by Maury in “A Turn of Fate.” Maury, torn between a strong sense of duty to his mother and an urge for independence anguishes, “I love Mother so much, and after all she’s done for me, what right do I have to leave to follow my dreams?”
A third classification of conflict, person against nature, pits an individual against forces of nature (climate, geography, aging, disease, etc.). Opposition against nature is clearly seen in Reynaldo’s courageous and resourceful efforts to survive alone in the Sonoran Desert in “Impossible Mirage.” Confrontation against natural forces is likewise evident in “It Has Come to This” where cancer-stricken Jonathan acknowledges his futile struggle against death: “It is all that I have been able to do to prevail thus far. I think now I can go no farther.”
The fourth type of conflict, person against society, presents an individual’s efforts to contend with larger, opposing cultural influences such as class judgments, racism, or oppressive government. This conflict type is illustrated in “As We Know” by Barton’s repeated rejection for employment due to racial discrimination. Opposition against society is also featured in “A Call to Arms” as young Benjamin struggles to resolve his legal obligation to honor his being drafted into military service. “I know it is my patriotic duty,” says Benjamin, “but it feels so very wrong.”
Essay Two – Satisfactory, partial credit response
- Conflict means two things that go against each other. There are lots of conflicts in stories, and they usually involve people. People in stories may fight with each other, go up against things like dying, or maybe have some issue inside themselves.
One of the assigned stories talked about a guy who kept having to fight a gang. He had no choice but to do this because the gang was on a mission to get him. There was also a story about a girl who got fed up with her boyfriend because he was always disrespecting her. These were the fights between people.
Some of the stories showed people who were having a tough time inside – like the guy whose mother needed him to take care of her, but he wanted to go to California. You could say he was torn up about this.
Another kind of conflict was in the story where the man was lost in the desert and had to look for water and not die of sunstroke. This was where the character fought nature.
There are other types of conflict, but they hold one thing in common, things going against people.
