Setting

Time
Place
Weather Conditions
Social Conditions
 n fl i ct
Co
Conflict is the struggle between the
opposing forces on which the action
in a work of literature depends.
INTERNAL CONFLICT
a mental or emotional struggle that
occurs within a character
 External Conflict

a character struggles with an outside

force or problem.
 So conflict is either internal or external…now
specifically, there are 3 main types of conflicts and 4
subcategories.
main
Man vs. Himself
-internal
a character develops an internal struggle
between his thoughts and ideas.

What am I going to do?

 main Man vs. Man
-external
A character has a conflict with another character
main
Man vs. Nature
-external

a character has a conflict with outside

forces: weather, animals, land etc.
subcategory
Man v. Society
-external
When a character conflict extends to
confronting institutions, traditions, or laws
of his or her culture.
subcategory
Man v. Technology/Machine
-external
A character is in conflict with
machinery/technology either by itself or
through the antagonist character
subcategory
Man v. Supernatural
-external
A character is in conflict with
something not of the natural world.
subcategory
Man v. Fate
-external

A character is in conflict over his predetermined

destiny...tries to change the outcome
Topic/Subjectc

Topic is the subject that the author

has decided to write
about or give his/her opinion about.
• One or two words

Example: greed, love, loyalty

 Theme
The main idea or underlying meaning of a story.
The opinion of the topic

• Usually implied
• Usually there are multiple themes in a story –
some are just more obvious than others.

Example: Greed can ruin someone’s character