Unlocking Texts: Exploring Conflict
⚔️ When worlds, beliefs, or selves collide.
Conflict isn’t just about fights or arguments — it’s about tension, choice, and the emotional or ideological struggle that drives a narrative. It reveals what characters value and fear, and it’s the engine of most literary plots.
🎯 Why Conflict Matters in Exams
💭 Almost every essay question — on theme, character, structure, or writer’s message — will involve identifying or evaluating conflict:
✅ IGCSE/Edexcel: “How does the writer present conflict between individuals or generations?”
✅ A-Level: “Examine the role of internal and external conflict in shaping character development.”
✅ IB DP (HL Essay, Paper 2): “Explore how the writer uses conflict to challenge or reinforce social norms.”
✅ IB MYP: “How does conflict shape the characters’ responses and decisions?”
💥 TYPES OF CONFLICT to Track
🔁 Internal Conflict (Character vs. Self)
- Often subtle and layered — guilt, fear, moral dilemmas, shame.
- Use close reading of thoughts, self-talk, dreams, or silences.
📌 Example:
In Macbeth, internal conflict consumes the protagonist: “O, full of scorpions is my mind.” — He struggles with ambition vs. conscience.
💡 Exam Tip: Internal conflict often foreshadows tragic outcomes or growth.
👥 Interpersonal Conflict (Character vs. Character)
- Look at clashes of values, goals, or ideologies.
- Dialogue, sarcasm, physical gestures, and contrast are key clues.
📌 Example (Edexcel):
In An Inspector Calls, Mr. Birling and the Inspector clash — capitalism vs. social responsibility.
💬 Sample line: “Public men, Mr. Birling, have responsibilities as well as privileges.” – this signals ethical conflict.
⚔️ Societal Conflict (Individual vs. Society)
- Characters often battle class, gender roles, religion, racism, or tradition.
- Symbols, settings, and contrast with other characters show this.
📌 Example (IGCSE):
In A View from the Bridge, Eddie’s need to control women in his home clashes with changing social roles — his identity as the patriarch is threatened.
🧠 Close Reading Trick: Identify moments of rebellion, resistance, or compliance.
🌪️ Political & Ideological Conflict
- Found in dystopias, post-colonial, or war literature.
- Propaganda, censorship, and narrative unreliability are key tools.
📌 Example (IB DP):
In 1984, Winston’s love for Julia becomes a political act — “Their embrace was a battle cry.”
The Party vs. individuality = constant ideological tension.
🛠️ Conflict in Structure and Form
- Use of juxtaposition, split narrative, dual timelines, or fragmentation often signals unresolved conflict.
- Look for shifts in tone, interruptions in structure, and contrasting chapters.
📌 Example:
In Beloved, the shifting timelines and narrative gaps mirror the conflict between memory and forgetting.
🧠 IB HL Essay Tip: Form mirrors emotional or cultural conflict.
✍️ Writer’s Purpose: Why Conflict?
- Conflict exposes injustice, human weakness, or emotional truth.
- It allows authors to critique or question norms — be ready to spot this!
📌 Example:
Achebe uses the conflict between Okonkwo and colonial systems in Things Fall Apart to highlight how imperialism disrupts indigenous identity.
🧩 Conflict Vocabulary for Essays
- “The writer dramatizes conflict to expose…”
- “Tension escalates through…”
- “Contrasting perspectives heighten emotional conflict…”
- “Dialogue reveals ideological friction…”
- “Internal divisions reflect societal pressures…”
🧪 Sample Analytical Paragraph
In The Crucible, Arthur Miller uses interpersonal conflict between John Proctor and Abigail Williams to dramatize moral hypocrisy in a theocratic society. Their shared past intensifies tension, but John’s refusal to continue their relationship challenges Abigail’s manipulation. Through heightened emotional language and symbolic acts — such as the ripping of the confession — Miller exposes how personal and societal conflicts are deeply entwined.