What conflicts occurs in the passage an internal conflict within the mother?

Conflict is a key ingredient of an engrossing story. ‘Internal conflict’ and ‘external conflict’ are two terms you’ll often hear when people discuss character creation. Read definitions of these types of story conflict, then how to use them to develop your story:

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Internal conflict vs external conflict: Definitions
1: Make both types of conflict obstacles
2: Plan how external and internal conflicts affect each other
3: Give characters opposing internal conflicts

Internal conflict vs external conflict: Definitions

In fiction, ‘internal conflict’ refers to a character’s internal struggle.

A character might struggle with an emotional problem such as fear of intimacy or abandonment, for example. Internal conflict is important for characterization, since flaws and internal struggles make characters more lifelike and sympathetic.

External conflict, on the other hand, refers to the conflicts between a character and external forces.

This type of conflict can be between one character and another or a group (or between groups of characters). It can also be between a character and more abstract forces. For example, a bleak and hostile environment in a post-apocalyptic novel.

Both types of conflict, internal and external, are useful because they create:

Tension: Because of conflict’s uncertainty, we want to know how it resolves and keep turning pages to find out
Stakes: Conflict suggests worst-case outcomes and makes resolution urgent (the hero must overcome the antagonist/environment or themselves ‘or else…’)
Character development: Conflict allows for dramatic incidents and confrontations that test characters and cause them to learn and adapt

So how do you use external and internal conflict to develop characters?

1: Make both types of conflict obstacles

Accomplished authors use both external and internal conflict to give their characters serious obstacles to reaching their goals.

In Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings cycle Frodo and his co-travelers must face external conflicts as well as internal ones. They encounter hostile creatures such as orcs and wargs, impassable terrain, alongside their own fears and weaknesses.

Frodo’s friend and sidekick Sam is initially fearful of their quest. Over the course of the story cycle, Sam gains courage as they progress towards Mordor. We see Sam’s internal conflict, and then we see how external conflicts pit him against his internal struggle, forcing him to grow.

In a romance novel, conflicts keep characters apart or throw existing relationships in jeopardy. Take Nicholas Sparks’ The Notebook, for example. Allie’s snobbish and disapproving mother is a source of external conflict that delays the lovers’ reunion after their first romantic encounters.

Sparks adds poignant internal conflict to this external source. His aging protagonists battle with medical conditions that place obstacles in their relationship. Even once the characters overcome primary external conflicts, internal conflict (in this instance, self vs mind and body) remains.

[For more of our top posts on character goals and motivations, see our character writing hub.]

2: Plan how external and internal conflicts affect each other

Dividing conflict into ‘internal’ vs ‘external’ can be misleading, since the two are linked. For example, in a romance, a character who fears abandonment might be clingy towards their lover. This in turn might create external conflict when the other character feels smothered. Plan how these internal and external conflicts feed into each other.

For example, picture a character who is independent and hates asking for help. How would this complicate their survival in an environmental disaster? Will they need to learn to rely more on others and ask for help? This is an example of how external conflict can be a crucible for character development. External conflicts can pit characters against their own internal conflicts, forcing them to renegotiate their beliefs and priorities.

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3: Give characters opposing internal conflicts

Opposing internal conflicts between characters may build confrontation and drama, but also attraction. For example, a messy character who struggles to not be chaotic might annoy a ‘neat freak’ who is obsessive about order. Yet the same neat character could find this trait intriguing. Differences that spark conflict are also the differences that attract people to one another.

In the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, for example, Kate Winslet’s character Clementine is a flighty and impulsive extrovert. Jim Carrey’s character Joel, whom she meets on a train, is a melancholic introvert by contrast.

Initially, Clementine is attracted to Joel and enjoys teasing him about his intensity and seriousness. But over time, each character’s internal conflict – Clementine’s fear of boredom and stasis and Joel’s fear of unpredictability – become sources of mutual frustration and hostility.

Through giving each character an opposing internal conflict that contains the seed for conflict, Charlie Kaufman (the scriptwriter) creates a development arc for each primary character that feels believable, even inevitable.

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A character doesn’t have to only have one internal conflict over the course of your entire novel. Take, for example, a character who struggles to be in a relationship because they struggle with anxiety and self-doubt. What new internal conflicts might arise if they discover new-found confidence?

Perhaps they are not used to having the confidence to actively choose or leave their significant other. This in turn creates anxiety about whether or not they’ve made the ‘right’ choice. One internal conflict resolving can thus leave space for a new one to arise.

Credible characters are human like us. One of the reasons Greek mythology is potent (and narrative epics like Homer’s Odyssey are still read and taught) is because the Greek Gods are just like people. Like ordinary mortals, they’re prone to love, jealousy, conflict and error.

When creating a character for your novel, create a cheat sheet for internal and external conflicts they will grapple with. For example, this could be a character conflict cheat sheet for Odysseus’s wife in Homer’s Odyssey:

Character name:Penelope
Who and where: Wife of Odysseus, awaits his return in Ithaca
Internal conflict: Doesn’t know if Odysseus is still alive and unsure whether or not to take his advice to remarry if he has not returned from war.
External conflict: She’s besieged by persistent suitors vying for her hand in marriage, forcing her to find ways to deter them until she receives word of Odysseus.

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Conflict is used to bring a story to life. Internal conflict happens when a character struggles with something within themselves. These two contradicting wants, needs or desires help to build a character. Explore several famous examples of man vs. self and how it differs from external conflict.

Internal Conflict Examples in Literature

Internal conflict -- also called man vs. self -- is a battle inside a character. In movies or TV shows, this might be shown as the good angel on one shoulder and the evil demon on the other.

With internal conflicts, you might feel a clash between competing desires. For example, an alcoholic may struggle not to reach for the bottle of bourbon. That person knows they need to stop drinking, but the desire to drink is very strong, leading to an intense internal struggle.

In fact, there are several types of internal conflict, including:

Conflicts about religion come into play when a person begins to question their faith or culture. For example, someone might question God after the death of a loved one.
Sexual conflicts are a war between your morals and sexual desires. For example, a person may feel conflicted about having sex before marriage.
Moral conflict is where you might bend your morals for a perceived greater good or immediate need. For example, a person might steal food to feed their starving family.
Conflict in self-image happens when a person's actions do not align with how they view themselves. For example, a mother may feel guilty if she thinks she's patient, but loses her temper with her children.
Conflicts of love is when you hurt something you love. Spanking children is a great example of this type of internal conflict.
Existential conflicts are internal struggles that a character might have about the meaning of life or the meaning in their life. For example, an environmentalist might work to save the planet while secretly believing it is doomed.
Interpersonal or societal conflicts are internal conflicts between your personal feelings and societal norms or expectations. A naturally introverted person who fakes being extraverted to fit in with classmates is an example. This can make them feel guilty about not being true to themselves.

Internal conflict is a character element that is utilized to add depth, mood, morality and humanism to characters in both movies and books.

Books and movies are a great place to find examples of internal struggles. As the character struggles with their inner thoughts and feelings, you begin to see their growth and change. Explore a few famous examples that truly exemplify man vs. self conflict.

Fight Club, a book by Chuck Palahniuk that was adapted into a movie, is a great example of internal conflict. The narrator struggles with mundane life so heavily that he actually creates an alter ego in Tyler Durden. This comes to a head at the end of the story when you realize that both characters are the same person.

One area that exemplified the narrator's internal struggle is in the line:

Maybe self-improvement isn't the answer. Tyler never knew his father. Maybe self-destruction is the answer.

In this passage, the narrator is having an existential internal struggle. He is trying to understand the meaning of it all and how an unwanted person could fit into a perfect society. The narrator concludes that since perfect isn't the answer, possibly self-destruction is.

In Shakespeare's Hamlet, there are several moral internal conflicts. Not only does Hamlet struggle with wanting to kill Claudius in revenge, he also struggles internally with his own depression and thoughts of suicide. Act 3, Scene 1 demonstrates Hamlet's struggle with suicidal thoughts:

To be, or not to be - that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles
And by opposing end them. To die, to sleep…

What's more, Hamlet's need for revenge is strong. Even the ghost of his father is calling for it. But, Hamlet knows that it is not right to kill Claudius out of revenge. This internal moral conflict throws him into a deep depression and apparent madness. This, in turn, creates an even deeper internal conflict in Hamlet of whether it is better to live in pain or to die and end the suffering.

In Lois Lowry's The Giver, Jonas' internal struggle builds as he gains the different memories that his society has lost from the giver. This is seen in Chapter 13:

They were satisfied with their lives which had none of the vibrance his own was taking on. And he was angry at himself, that he could not change that for them.

His internal struggle becomes a moral internal conflict when he finds out that Gabriel is going to be killed. He must then choose if he wants to save him and leave or stay and let him die. He ultimately decides to go and save Gabriel.

In the movie The Sixth Sense, Cole Sear exhibits internal struggles as he comes to grips with his sixth sense. He exhibits interpersonal internal conflicts because he wants to conform to societal norms but that is impossible. Cole also has conflicting feelings about helping the ghosts and wanting to ignore them, which leads to a moral internal conflict.

While internal conflict can take a large role in literature, it typically happens in conjunction with external conflict. Much like the name suggests, external conflicts happen between a character and an outside or "external" force.

This could be another character, like the conflict between Claudius and Hamlet, or even a force of nature, like how the snow affects Jonas and Gabriel. External struggles happen in the outside world, unlike internal struggles that happen inside a character's own head.

Good characters are well rounded and based on defining traits like having strong values. Because of these traits, they experience different kinds of internal struggle as they navigate their fictitious worlds. The internal conflicts they experience can also depend on the type of character they are.

Staff Writer

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