Roy's Readers discussion
Block 3 Blue - Question 3: Conflict
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The book I am reading right now (Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand) starts out as both a Man vs Man conflict as well as a Man vs Self conflict. Louie, the main character, spends most of his childhood as a rebel. He steals from just about everywhere, he runs from police, he is constantly in the principal's office, and is all around a troublesome kid. So I guess this is really Man vs MEN, but I digress. While in high school, Louie starts looking at himself in a different light, and begins to want to change himself for the better. However if you have done something the same way for a long time, it is hard to change. We call these habits. Louie must learn to fight against his rebellious tendencies to become who he is on the inside.
The book I am reading is called "Salt to the Sea" and the conflict in this book is a Man vs. Man conflict due to WW2. All of the characters in my book are all working together, in a way. They are all victims of the war, or part of the cause. They have all fallen into the gigantic hole of cold, windy, and toughness from this war. They seem to become so wrapped up in all the horrible things that are forgetting to sty positive through the treacherous terrain.
I am reading "Hollow City" by Ransom Riggs. Before giving the conflict, some backstory is due. This the second book in a series, the first being "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children." In the first book, a boy named Jacob discovers a home for kids with powers, their leader being a woman named Miss Peregrine. Miss Peregrine can normally turn into a bird and revert to human form at will, but the conflict in this second book is that she is stuck in bird form. At the end of the first book, Jacob left his parents to help the kids from the home, which is also an important part of "Hollow City." The main conflict in this book is that the children have to find a way to turn Miss Peregrine back into a human, which is probably closest to Man v. Man because they have to fight dangerous people along their journey. However, an underlying conflict in this book is Man v. Self, because Jacob is faced with his guilt for leaving his parents. Additionally, Jacob and the children have to wrestle with the idea that what they are doing is right, even though the face danger along the way.
I am reading "Gone" by. The book is set in California in the present day. Everyone is living their lives normally when suddenly all the adults dissapper, "adults" being everyone over the age of 15. Similar to "Lord of the Flies" the kids must form their own government and look after the younger kids. The main conflict is Man Vs. Man because the kids are all fighting and hurting each other to become the 'king of the hill.' Futhermore, this is also a Man Vs. Nature conflict because for some reason (no spoilers) the animals are mutating at an alarming rate, which the characters have to fend off.
Bella wrote: "I am reading "Gone" by. The book is set in California in the present day. Everyone is living their lives normally when suddenly all the adults dissapper, "adults" being everyone over the age of 15...."sorry "'Gone' by Michael Grant"
The book that I am reading is called "Uglies" by Scott Westerfeld. There are two major conflicts included, both involving the same issue. The first, and more prominent, is an external man vs. nature conflict. Tally Youngblood lives in a society where there is an acclaimed surgery which makes "uglies" become "pretties". Once citizens of Uglyville become "pretties", they move away from their boring and drab lives into a new town, where they are constantly having fun and partying. Tally was scheduled for this surgery, but partway through the story realized that she was content with her own looks and wasn't willing to conform to society's expectations. However, her choice was frowned upon and she ends up on the run, hiding from the government and forming a rebellion of her own. She battles the nature of life in their world, a nature that all others had chosen to accept. Another conflict in the story was that, as I previously mentioned, she chose not to move forward with her surgery. This was an internal man v. self conflict that she faced, attempting to gain enough confidence to remain an "ugly" in a world of "pretties". She struggled with her own insecurity and was eventually able to overcome this difficulty and begin her quest in changing the unoriginal, conforming, unchanging society as she had known it all her life.
The book I'm reading right now is "The Girl on a Train" and the conflicts are both internal and external for both of the main characters, Rachel and Megan. This book's types of conflicts are, Man vs. Self and Man vs. Man. Rachel seems to have no motivation whats so ever. Half the time she just sits in bed not able to sleep but has nothing else to do. Also, Rachel is a bit of an alcoholic and when she starts drinking she has no control over her emotions or actions. Many times she can't remember what exactly what she did. Rachel also does not want to move on from her past husband even though its been five years. Megan on the other hand is suffering from bad insomnia and horrible panic attacks often. Megan seems to be very haunted by her dark past. At one point Megan even claims that she has a "real self, the self that nobody knows". Although a lot of this book's conflict is Man vs. Self, there's also a bit of Man vs. Man, too. Rachel and Anna especially don't get along which is understandable because Anna was the woman Rachel's husband cheated on Rachel with. They seem to get in millions of fights and Anna even seems afraid of Rachel. Megan also has a bit of rocky relationship with her husband and by the looks of it now and considering she's cheating on him it's only going to get worse. Even Rachel really dislikes Megan. After she saw Megan cheating, she went as far as saying she would "scratch her eyes out".
I am reading the book "City Of Ashes" and the conflicts in my book are man vs man, and man vs self. The man vs man conflict is that Clary and her brother Jace, along with the rest of the shadowhunters are trying to defeat a man called Valentine who is a psychopath and its trying to either kill everybody, or enslave them in his army. Oh, and the best part is that he's also Clary and Jace's father. Which makes the family tree quite messed up. In the man vs self conflict, Jace is trying to figure out weather he should follow his heart, or his brain. He has followed his brain for most of his life because he thought he, (a person who was taught from a very young age that "to love is to destroy") wasn't capable of love, and if he was he would hurt those that were close to his heart. Now, everything has changed. Because he did meet someone he loved, and that (coming from the person who isn't scared of anything) is his worst fear of all.
The book I just finished is 13 reasons why. This book is about a boy named Clay who is given a set of cassette tapes and is told to listen to them. As he does, he learns it's about someone in his class who committed suicide and each tape is a person or reason why she did it. I think that this book is solely Man vs Self (why can't we do Person vs Self? I mean, that might be a little more all inclusive). Ok I think that this is PERSON vs Self, because as Clay walks the city streets listening he goes through stages of pitying and hating himself. He hates himself and others because he did nothing. It is also Person vs Self because we hear the tapes of Hannah Baker, the one who killed herself, and she too is going through a struggle about whether or not she has a reason in the world to stay or if anyone lives her or cares.
"1984" by George Orwell encompasses many different conflicts simultaneously. The main character, Winston Smith, lives in a dystopian society controlled by a tyrannical oligarchy called the Inner Party. All citizens are under perpetual surveillance, and anyone who speaks out against them or promotes the idea of freedom are sent to forced labor camps or killed. Winston secretly hates the Inner Party and dreams of rebellion against the leader, Big Brother. Big Brother maintains an extreme cult of personality and is essentially worshipped by the citizens. Because Winston is against the government as a whole and Big Brother in particular, the external conflict could be identified as Man vs. Man. He also often debates with himself over his thoughts of freedom and overthrowing the government due to the severe brainwashing the society has put him through, so there is also an internal "Man vs. Self" conflict.
In "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption," the conflict is Man vs. Man. Although the story is told from the perspective of another inmate, Red, the story is about another inmate. His name is Andy Dufresne. He was wrongfully convicted for the murder of his wife and the man she was having an affair with, He was convicted and became an inmate at Shawshank. While he is helping with a roofing project, he tells the warden about how he can help him with his taxes, as he used to be a banker. He does this to try to get on parole quicker, so that he can get out of Shawshank. The Conflict is Man vs. Man, but if it had been from Andy's point of view, there definitely been some Man vs. Self, as there always is with anyone doing time in jail.
The conflict in "Confessions of a murder suspect", is Man vs. Society. The main character, Tandy Angel, and her siblings have been suspected of the killing of their parents, Malcolm and Maud Angel. The story is told from the point of view of Tandy, who is this brilliant girl, who, from around birth, has been given drugs that make her genius, sharpen her senses, and give laser focus. On the night of the murder, Tandy and her siblings are asleep in their apartment in the Dakota, a very fancy hotel. The police get a 911 call, and burst in, and there's no form of break in or forced entry into the apartment, and the police suspect the kids of course. Throughout the book, Tandy is forced to use her best judgement and genius brain to prove her and her siblings innocent, while the rest of the world is against them, fighting to put them behind bars,
Mod
Looks like a very interesting book. I would love for you to read Lord of the Flies next and then talk to me about comparisons you can make.
Mod
Such an interesting concept that clearly is trying to get teens to see how dangerous this search for "perfection" can become.
Mod
I read this book a couple of summers ago in a 24hour period. It was a story I could not put down...but having read it so fast - I really don't remember much about it.
Mod
Yes...of course - Person vs. Self, Person vs. Person, and Person vs. Nature. Sorry - I was not politically correct. Hope I didn't offend anyone. That is my "old schooling" lit. terminology coming out. I love all people!! :)
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I know...this one is CONFLICT ALL AROUND. So much crazy stuff, but still many things that are so relevant today.
Mod
A lot of man vs. society here.
The book I am reading is "Untwine" by Edwidge Dabdicat. The main conflict here is man vs. self. Giselle blames herself for the accident and her sisters death. She took 15 extra minutes to perfect her outfit and make sure she looked good. She believes that if they had actually left on time, they could have avoided the accident. During her time in the hospital she is in a coma. She can't move or speak, the only thing she can do is listen. Everybody thinks that she is her twin sister Isabelle and she can't do anything to tell them she is actually Giselle. All she wants to do is yell at them and tell them they're wrong. She wants to break out of her coma so bad, just even move a toe or nod her head to tell everyone she is okay. She fights with herself so much just to wake up and be able to tell everyone who she really is and finally she does. After a while of physical therapy, she finally recovers enough to go to her sister's funeral and finally go home. All of that fighting with herself helped her to wake up and recover and it shows how pushing yourself will make you better.
The book I am reading is, The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins. In this book there are multiple different conflicts used, and also both internal and external conflict. The book is told from two different points of view, Rachel and Megan, both young women struggling with their own problems. The conflicts exhibited in the sections told from both women are man vs. self and man vs. man. Rachel:
In the sections told by Rachel, there are both man vs. man and man vs. self conflicts exhibited. She is constantly thinking about her ex husband, Tom, and his new wife, Anna. She often calls Tom in the middle of the night, and even goes to the extent of showing up at their house while she is (probably) drunk. This could be both man vs. man or man vs. self. The man vs. self conflict is Rachel trying to keep herself from calling him, and also facing the internal conflict of trying not to drink too much. There is also conflict between the Watsons and Rachel. They try to make the detectives believe that Rachel hurt someone when she was wandering their street at night, and could have something to do with Megan Hipwell vanishing. She also has a lot of conflict with Anna because Anna and Tom recently had a baby, and this is something Rachel always wanted. She is jealous of Anna and this results in “revenge” on her, however we do not know for sure what Rachel has done because she was intoxicated and cannot remember.
Megan:
There is a lot about Megan’s past that the reader isn't immediately told. However, it can be inferred that she has had a dark past. She seems to be unstable and unhappy often, and suffers from insomnia. Megan often runs away from difficult situations instead of facing them; she quit the job with Anna because she was bored, but she also hints that she doesn't enjoy children, did she quit this job because she was uncomfortable? But, she also seems extremely dependent on Scott, and it seems like it would be almost impossible for her to live on her own. This internal man vs. self conflict leads her to making bad decisions. She starts cheating on her husband, and soon after goes missing.
The book I am reading is "A Dog's Purpose". This story is told in a dog named Toby's point of view. The dog was living with his family in the wild when some dog catchers found them and brought then to a pound . The main conflict right now was a man vs self conflict. Toby was enjoying his time at the pound when one day he went to sleep and when he woke up at midnight his mother was leaving the pound. Toby either had the choice to stay at the pound with his new friends and brother or go with his mom who has taken care of him for the majority of his life.
The book I am reading right now is "Insurgent" by Veronica Roth. The story is told from the main character's (Tris) point of view. She is on the run from a powerful, dangerous woman named Jeanine anda faction called "Erudite". The conflict is Man v. Man external and Man v. Self internal. She is on the run from bad people who want to kill her for her unique but dangerous power, "Divergent". It is also Man v. Self because she has to overcome herself, her worries and her fears. She has to have the self motivation to stay alive and always be on the run, with no family but her brother. Her biggest self conflict is her fears and overcoming them.
My book, Terror at Bottle Creek, is a Man vs Nature type of conflict. The conflict that the main character Cort is facing is a hurricane. One of his neighbors, Francie, gets sucked out into the storm and he has to go out and find her with the help of his other neighbor, Liza. Together they find francie but end up getting stuck in a tree near an abandoned pond called Bottle Creek. The area is surrounded with dangerous animals and the next half of the book is all about what they do to survive. They have to endure many days in nights in the unrelenting conditions of a hurricane and somehow find their way back to their home when the river looks completely different than what it looked like before they left. All of these reasons lead the conflict to be a total Man vs Nature.
My book, The life, The universe and everything by Adam Douglass. While it is a fairly long book with multiple conflicts, the main conflict is man vs self, as the main character (Arthur Dent) tries to cope with useless and detrimental aliens that he needs to survive, his own madness, getting lost in time, and trying to figure out how he can give the answer to life, the universe, and everythingLife, the Universe and Everything
Types of conflict: internal and external
Man vs. Man
Man vs. Self
Man vs. Nature
Question 3 for Independent Book: Explain in detail the conflict in your book.
Mrs. Roy
Book: Not Parking at the End of Times by Brian Bliss
This story is told from the point of view of Abby. Abby is a teenage girl that is living with her family out of a van – her parents sold everything to drive across the country to follow a stranger named Brother John. Her parents blindly believe that the world is coming to an end and by giving all they have to Brother John, they will be saved. The conflict in this story is both internal and external. Abby is struggling with herself as she tries to decide whether or not she keeps following along with her parents or is there another option. Abby is also struggling externally with her twin brother Aaron and her parents. Aaron is all of a sudden distant and non-communicative with her. Obviously her biggest conflict is the one between her and her parents. She loves them and cherishes the memories, but the road they have led the family down is clearly not the right one and her world is nothing but conflict.