Prose / novel · Both
Conflict & Relationships
Most set texts are built on conflict – between people, within a character, or between individual and society. Relationships are where themes become visible.
Types of conflict
• Person vs person
• Person vs society / system
• Person vs nature / fate
• Internal conflict (desire vs duty, fear vs courage)
Relationships
Track power, loyalty, dependence and change.
Ask who influences whom, and what a key scene does to the relationship.
Link conflict to the writer’s bigger ideas (justice, love, class, identity).
Practice questions
1. Name two types of conflict.
2. Why study relationships in a novel?