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Eel's Conflict

Decent Essays

Hundreds of people died, and no one knew why until Eel found the unexpected case. The unexpected case that the protagonist (Eel) found, solved the main conflict in the story. The main conflict in the story was a random outbreak of the disease cholera. Deborah Hopkinson, the author, uses conflicts throughout the story. In her use of conflicts through Eel and nature, himself, other people, and the community she develops the plot. The author uses person versus nature as one of the conflicts to develop the plot. One conflict Eel experiences with nature is the epidemic. The epidemic is an outbreak of the bacterial disease cholera. A problem Eel is facing with the outbreak of cholera is that he could become contaminated by the disease, and it would more than likely kill him. “The epidemic has killed 92 people.” (113) The epidemic has hit where he lives, so he could be …show more content…

One conflict Eel deals with is being afraid. Eel is afraid he will not be able to help his friends and family. He is also afraid to be caught by his evil stepfather, and that he will not be able to find the cause of cholera. “We may learn nothing.” (137) This quote demonstrates Eel’s fear of learning nothing of cholera. Also Eel deals with conflicts with his self-confidence. Throughout the story the author gives examples of how Eel is self-conscious, and how his self-conscious emotions cause conflicts. “Excessive self-conscious emotions can be extremely unhealthy.” (Kreitzer) This quote proves that Eel’s lack of self-confidence is bad for him, and can cause conflict in his life. Eel also has conflicts with loneliness; he is usually alone. When Eel was younger both of parents died, leaving him an orphan. “Doctors and medical researchers are finding that the greatest threat to your health and longevity is isolation.” (Peterson) Eel not having parents' causes conflict in his life. The conflicts he deals with himself develops into more

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