Section B Homework Questions

"In narratives, the hero or heroine always experience some conflict, which affects the resolution of the story. Write about the significance of conflict in the stories of three writers you have studied"

In 'The Great Gatsby', Gatsby experiences conflict with himself which affects the resolution of the story. Towards the end of the book, Gatsby's car hits and kills Tom's mistress Myrtle, "Myrtle Wilson, her life violently extinguished, knelt in the road and mingled her thick dark blood with the dust". This leads to Mr Wilson becoming completely lost of all hope, no way of ever escaping the ash, and craving revenge on whoever stole his last burst of hope. The conflict in which Gatsby has with himself is what to tell people when they ask about the incident, for everyone knows it was his car, but what Nick finds out is that it was not Gatsby driving but Daisy, "well I tried to swing the wheel-' He broke off, and suddenly I guessed at the truth". Gatsby takes the blame for Myrtle's death, which ultimately ends the novel with his death, as Wilson took his own life and Gatsby's, to avenge Myrtle. It could be argued that Gatsby isn't the hero of the book, despite it being called 'The Great Gatsby', as the name becomes almost mocking as the novel is read, criticising how Gatsby is actually much less than great for he is fake and a liar, but despite whether he is the hero of the novel or not, his conflict unarguably resulted in heroic action, taking the blame for something so serious, just to free his loved one. It is also clear how his conflict affected the resolution, for if Gatsby hadn't taken the blame, he wouldn't have been shot by Wilson, maybe Daisy would have been, maybe not, but Gatsby would still be alive. But rather, the book ends with his death, and his funeral, which was only attended by few, and Nick concluding that hope is weaker than thought, and that dreams aren't always attainable, "so we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.".


In 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner', the Mariner experiences many different types of conflict, such as conflict with self; the battle of realising the beautify of nature and being grateful to God, physical conflict; in the form of his everlasting punishment of constantly having to retell his story, and also the punishment during their boat was stuck,"as idle as a painted ship upon painted ocean", "water water everywhere but not a drop to drink", and finally conflict with the supernatural, in the form of the ghost ship containing Death and Life in death and also the spirit that has been following them.
The main conflict that the Mariner has to deal with is conflict with himself and the world around him, and coming to terms with there realisation of how God's creation of nature should be loved and respected. He has this epiphany whilst being stuck on the boat, after all his crew mates fate became controlled by Death, and he became Life in Death's. "I looked to heaven and tried to pray"..."I watched the water snakes...I watched their rich attire, blue, glossy green...O happy living things! no tongue their beauty might declare... I blessed them unaware". The epiphany is considered conflict as the Mariner has to endure physical conflict and conflict with the supernatural to realise the moral message, which the contrasts his earlier actions, "i shot the albatross", and causes guilt to flood through him. The conflict with himself and finding the respect for God's creation affects the ending as the Mariner is still cursed for he previous sin of shooting the albatross, but now understands why it was wrong and lives out his sentence warning and telling people about the beauty of God's creation and the respect it deserves.


There is similar conflict in The Road, as the man has conflict with himself as well as the environment - a barren, dead, post apocalyptic america - and about what to do with his son. He has conflict with himself is that the temptation of death is always lingering, in the form of flashbacks and memories about his wife, and about how easy it would be if they did leave the new world, but then he can't bring himself to shoot his child, as he constantly battles with himself thinking over and over about how he would do it, "Can you do it? When the time comes?... Could you crush that beloved skull with a rock?".  His conflicting thoughts and emotions - which are rarely shown - result in him not being able to kill the boy, which affects the ending majorly, as when the time comes and they are at the coast, the man knows he is dying and doesn't want to leave the boy alone in the world, but feels he has to because he cannot kill him. If the man had killed the boy, then both their lives would have been over there and then, but because he didn't, the boy was able to be taken in by the new family, and told them about 'carrying the fire', and also learn about God.