Conflict Paragraph Assignment

Select one of the most significant conflicts in your novel. You’ll probably remember that well-
written novels generally have more than one conflict. They generally have more than one plot, and
more than one crisis point. And even with the major plot line, there are usually mini crises before
the major crisis. Keeping this in mind, pick a passage which highlights one significant conflict and
has enough material in it for you to analyze.

Plot

Introduction --- Inciting incident --- Rising action (conflict) --- Climax (sub-climax for subplots)
--- Falling Action (conflict) --- Denoument (conflict resolution) --- Conclusion

When you are analyzing conflict, choose a passage that intensifies the conflict and moves the plot
forward. That “something” must be an action, though the action can be the act of speaking some
words. Look at inciting incident, rising action, climax or falling action. The plot does not move
forward in the Introduction, that is just where the foundation of the story is laid.

You can discuss many things with conflict, including:

what characters do, think, or say;
how other character react;
what the narrator tells you,
how author’s word choice reveals tension/conflict/indecision etc.
but you need to connect whatever you are discussing back to the central conflict. This is a very
focused analysis. If you don’t make the connection back, you’ll invariably start summarizing.

In your analysis, you need to include a clear topic sentence - exactly what does the author do and
how does he/she do it. You may want to discuss an internal struggle (one conflict) developed
through the character’s own expressions of doubt and her self-sabotaging behaviour (two points
for discussion). Perhaps it’s a struggle between two powerful men (one conflict) developed by the
author through one character’s aggressive and provocative behaviour as well as narrator’s
exposition on past deeds (two points). Focus on what the conflict is and how it is developed.
These ideas should all be clearly stated in your topic sentence and your expansion. Remember this
is an analysis, not a general discussion. There are many interesting things in the world, and even
in your novel, but if they are not in the passage you have chosen, you shouldn’t be discussing them.

Students sometimes have difficulty with plot because they want to just summarize what is
happening or explain why people are doing things. This is not analysis. Analysis is looking at
specific elements from your chosen passage and seeing what they are doing to move the plot
forward or intensify conflict. Therefore, you should get into your passage, and with close reading,
considered scrutiny, and application of what you know about your task (conflict and analysis),
find clear, direct evidence from within your passage to support your argument. If you can’t find
evidence in your passage, you need to change your passage OR your argument. Don’t discuss
things that aren’t there.

As a reminder, you need to tell your reader about your conflict. Is it person vs. person? vs. self? vs.
society? vs. supernatural? Be specific. But, you don’t need to say “person versus person”. You
could, for example, try to be a little more eloquent and discuss things in terms of struggle –
“Homer engages in random and frequent squabbles with the people around him, but his essential
conflict is internal as he struggles to overcome his inherent sloth and become the man he has the
potential to be.” An excellent analysis will be detailed and clear without hitting the reader over the
head with the fact that it’s a fairly structured, formulaic exercise in creating an argument.
 Review of Basics of Plot

Conflict: The struggle in a work of literature. This struggle may be between one person and
another person or between a person and an animal, an idea or a thing. It may also be between a
person and himself or herself (internal conflict). Struggles can also be between a person and
nature, a person and something supernatural, or a person and society (or social convention),
which is often a variation of person versus self.

Plot: The events that unfold in a story; the action and direction of a story; the story line.

Exposition: In a story, the part of the plot that introduces the setting and characters and presents
the events and situations that the story will focus on. (Exposition also refers to an essay whose
primary purpose is to inform readers rather than to argue a point.) On the plot graph, this is called
introduction only when it happens at the beginning. Exposition can happen throughout a story.

Subplot: Secondary or minor plot in a story usually related to the main plot.

Climax: High point in a story. In classic detective stories, this point usually occurs when Sherlock
Holmes, Charlie Chan, Hercules Poirot, etc., lay out the evidence and finger the killer.

Denouement: The outcome or resolution of the plot, occurring after the climax. In a murder
mystery, the denouement may outline the clues that led to the capture of a murderer. In a drama
about family discord, it may depict the reconciliation of family members after a period of
estrangment–or the permanent dissolution of family ties if the drama reaches a climax in which
the discord worsens.

How to Establish Credibility as an Analyst

In your analytical papers you must defend a clearly stated point of view with logically
developed arguments. To do this you must cite and analyze primary proofs. To add
depth and to help the reader clearly understand your analysis, you will find it helpful
to use some of the following demonstrative verbs:
Implies infers expresses conveys indicates reflects recalls
demonstrates emphasizes portrays suggests refers to signifies
represents depicts insinuates describes connotes displays imitates

His moving description of an incident in the war shows the opposition between the ideal
and the real.

The weariness and pain of the men is vividly suggested by words such as "bent double".

While the short sentence, "Men marched asleep", indicates the absence of vitality and
spirit, the description of them without shoes, "bloodshod", not only indicates their physical suffering
but also suggests their loss of human dignity.

Owen's words imply that....

The description of the men fumbling to put on their gas-masks is appropriate here because it conveys
their dazed confusion. Similarly, the description of the gas masks as clumsy helmets recalls the old
Roman adage that appears at the end of the poem, and thus links World War I with
all wars.

...creates an atmosphere of... the sounds merely emphasize the gulf between...

N.B.: At no time does this author use the expression, "This quotations shows". Don't do it.