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Conflicts - Short Story Essay

Decent Essays

Conflict means a struggle or problem between two opposing groups or individuals. There are two types of conflict: internal and external conflict. An internal conflict is a struggle that is internalized and deals with choices, consequences, or emotions. An internal conflict is a man vs. self struggle. An external conflict is a struggle between the protagonist and another character against nature or some outside force. External conflicts are either man verses man, man verses nature, or man verses society. Various examples of internal and external conflicts can be shown in Guy de Maupassant’s “The Necklace,” Richard Connell’s “The Most Dangerous Game,” and O.Henry’s, “The Gift of the Magi.” Firstly, Guy de Maupassant’s “The Necklace” shows …show more content…

He is put into a situation where he has to swim until he finds shelter. He swims, and “for a seemingly endless time he fought the sea” (Connell 42). After a while, he found an island called Ship Trap Island. So, this shows how he fought against nature. Another example of conflict in this story is when Rainsford has to fight against General Zaroff, who is an expert at hunting humans on Ship Trap Island. As Rainsford gets challenged by Zaroff, he says, “‘Thank you, I’m a hunter, not a murderer’” (49). This shows an example of another external conflict. But, this one is a man verses man conflict because Rainsford is facing a problem with another character in the story. Therefore, Rainsford faces many situations where he has to choose between life or death. Lastly, examples of conflict can be shown in “The Gift of the Magi” by O.Henry. This story is about a cute couple that is willing to do anything to buy each other Christmas presents. An internal conflict faced by Della Young, the protagonist, is when she does not have enough money to buy her husband Jim a present. All Della had was “one dollar and eighty seven cents. And the next day would be Christmas” (O. Henry 153). To get more money, Della sells her most prized possession, which is her hair. After Della and Jim finally bought their presents by selling their most prized possessions, another conflict arose. Della bought Jim a chain for his watch, and Jim bought Della hair combs that she

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