inform students more about the setting of
a novel or support a historical analysis of
Interviewer: Welcome, Professor.
Thanks for joining us today.
Prof. Flick: Thank you for having me.
Interviewer: You’re the world’s leading
thinker on all types of conflict. Why do you
think that students of literature need to
have a good understanding of what
conflict is and its various forms?
Prof. Flick: That’s actually a great
question! First of all, storytelling and myth
making is as old as humanity. Through our
cultural stories and narratives, we can
record history, make meaning about the
world, and teach others. Given that,
historically, humans have always faced
conflict in one form or another, stories are
often told to help depict, remember, or
explain such conflicts.
Interviewer: But why does a student need
to know the different types to study
literature?
Prof. Flick: Having a better understanding
of the different types of inter- and
intrapersonal conflicts on both the macro
and micro levels can better inform
students what to look for as they read
literature.
Interviewer: Wow! Some big words
there… Can you please put that a simpler
way?
Prof. Flick: Sorry, if students are aware of
the types of conflict they might face
themselves, that is to say intrapersonal
conflict, or the conflicts they have with
others, interpersonal, then they might be
able to analyse characters better or
identify themes, for example. Also,
understanding larger global conflicts or
smaller conflicts within a community can
literature.
Interviewer: Okay, I’m beginning to
understand. Conflicts come in various
forms and the more we know about
conflict, the easier reading literature will
be.
Prof. Flick: Exactly!
Interviewer: So, let’s start simple: when
people think of conflict, what do you think
they’re most likely to think of?
Prof. Flick: Personally, I think many
people will think of war. It’s definitely the
type of conflict which evokes the most
horrifying images in the mind.
Interviewer: Okay, that’s an easy one.
Are there any details you think students
should know?
Prof. Flick: Well, obviously for a literature
class, they might just need to know the
basics, whereas I am sure in other
subjects like history they would go into a
lot more depth. I think that students should
know that there are obviously violent
global conflicts, like WWI and WWII, but
there are also violent conflicts within a
country, known as civil wars. Violent
conflicts within a country can also take the
form of military coups or perhaps violent
revolutions. However, I think one thing that
students should remember is that many
ways are actually as a result of an
ideological conflict.
storytelling and myth
making is as old as
humanity.
1

Interviewer: Such as what?
Prof. Flick: Have you heard of the Cold
War? This was an ideological war
between the US and the Soviet Union, two
international superpowers. The ideology of
the US was rooted in democracy and
capitalism, whilst the ideology of the
Soviet Union was a communist one.
Interviewer: And these two superpowers
disagreed with each other’s beliefs about
economics and power?
Prof. Flick: In many ways. Disagreeing,
after all, is a form of conflict.
Interviewer: Bringing this back to
literature, why is any of this important to a
reader?
Prof. Flick: I think it just helps to have an
understanding of such things. Let’s say
that you read a book about Pol Pot’s
bloody revolution and dictatorship in
Cambodia; it obviously helps to have
some understanding as to why a conflict
existed between the revolutionaries and
the previous government.
Interviewer: That makes sense. That was
a revolution in which poor workers from
rural areas took power, right?
Prof. Flick: It started off that way. In fact,
that brings me to other types of conflict we
might look for in literature.
A Marxist critic can look for
conflicts between the social
classes.
Interviewer: What do you mean?
Prof. Flick: Other types of conflict we can
look for in literature are societal conflicts,
such as class conflict.
Interviewer: This seems pretty technical.
What is class conflict?
Prof. Flick: It can be pretty complicated,
so bear with me. According to Marx, class
conflict is the contrast between the
wealthy or powerful and poorer, working
class. The wealthy own the means of
production, such as factories or the
materials needed to produce goods, and
they employ workers to produce these
goods. However, the drive of the wealthy
is to make more wealth and the only way
to do this is to sell goods for as much as
possible whilst paying the workers as little
as possible to ensure the largest profit. As
you can imagine, there is a conflict of
wants and beliefs between the two
classes. This results in socioeconomic
competition and social anxiety between
the two classes.
Interviewer: So how does that help a
student of literature?
Prof. Flick: Well, actually, a huge part of
literature is applying what we refer to as
critical lenses. This means that we read
literature from a certain perspective. One
critical lens is known as a Marxist
interpretation, which means we use the
theories and ideas from Karl Marx, as well
as from other Marxist thinkers like
Benjamin, Althusser, Gramsci, and Adorno
2
to interpret literature.
Interviewer: Well historically, it has often
Interviewer: That sounds complicated! been men who go to war and women who
stay at home?
Prof. Flick: It is a little, but it helps
students read for more ideas. Prof. Flick: That’s true, but that just
means that literature reflects our own
Interviewer: So one thing a Marxist critic
beliefs, and that our beliefs might also be
can do is look for conflicts between the
shaped by literature. There is nothing
social classes?
biological which forces women to stay at
Prof. Flick: Absolutely! Look to see if one home, nor forces men to go to war. We
social class has more power or privilege in have structured society that way.
a novel, and how they keep that power
and privilege. They might do it through
violent means or through ideological
means. Also, consider the ways the lower
classes might suffer and the conflicts that
they face.

There is nothing biological

which forces women to
stay at home, nor forces
men to go to war.
Interviewer: OK. That sounds pretty
simple. So, other than class conflict, what
other social conflicts might a student look
for?
Prof. Flick: Similar to class conflict, there
are also conflicts between the different
sexes and genders.
Interviewer: You lost me again.
Prof. Flick: Much like a Marxist critic
looks for the treatment of different social
classes, a feminist critic might look at the
treatment of men and women.
Interviewer: What do you mean?
Prof. Flick: Well, let’s say you’re reading
a novel about a war, and all of the male
characters are depicted as brave and
strong, but also as aggressive and violent,
whereas female characters are depicted
as weak and individuals who stay at home
doing domestic work. Why do you think
this could be a problem?
Interviewer: Oh, I see. So a text like the
one you mentioned reinforces the idea
that women are weaker than men, or that
to be manly it means you have to be
strong but also violent.
Prof. Flick: That’s right! This is the kind of
stuff a feminist critic does.
Interviewer: What’s that got to do with
conflict?
Prof. Flick: Just like the conflict between
social classes in an unequal political or
economic system, under a patriarchy,
which means the structures which
privilege men and put them at the top of
the hierarchy, there is bound to be conflict
with the dominant group wanting to
maintain their power and the subordinate
group wanting more equality.
Interviewer: So like a Marxist critic can
look at which social group is privileged,
how they are privileged, and what they do
to keep their power, a feminist critic can do
the same with gender?

3
Prof. Flick: Yes, and a whole lot more, but
I’ll save that for another day.
Interviewer: This is great! So I have learnt
about national and global conflicts,
societal conflicts. What’s next?
Prof. Flick: Well, are you interested in
psychology?
Interviewer: Yeah. I love it, but surely
there’s no conflict there?
Prof. Flick: According to Sigmund Freud,
the founding father of psychoanalysis and
one of the most important thinkers of the
19th century, that actually is a conflict
going on in your mind.
Interviewer: No way! What do you mean?
Prof. Flick: So, Freud put forward the
idea that the human mind is split into three
parts: the unconscious “id” which is driven
by pleasure and fear. Think of this part as
like an animal inside of us, there since
birth, that drives our basest desires
without us being aware. Then, another
part of the mind is called “the superego.”
This part is the opposite of the id, in a way,
and is very concerned with following the
rules. As you can imagine, there is a
conflict between the id, wanting to fulfil our
animalistic desires, and the superego
which is super worried about the rules and
what others will think. In the middle of both
of these is the fully conscious “ego,” which
tries to balance the two.
Interviewer: I’m sorry, but there is no way
that this applies to literature!
Prof. Flick: Actually, psychoanalytic
interpretations of literature are really
common. You might analyse a character
with these concepts in mind, and see how
the id might take over. The parts of the
personality might also be represented in
the setting, like travelling deeper into a
jungle might signify travelling deeper into
the unconscious. Similarly, different
characters might represent different parts
of the personality, with one character
being violent, another wanting to establish
order and rules, and one more trying to
balance the two. In fact, this is the case in
William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, with
Jack, Piggy, and Ralph each representing
the id, superego, and ego.
Interviewer: This is really interesting. So
when I am looking for conflict, I can think
of violent conflicts, ideological conflicts,
the conflicting interests between different
social groups, and now the conflicts within
our own minds. Are there any other types
of conflict you want to mention?
Prof. Flick: I think the last, which is of
particular importance to a student of
literature, is conflict as a plot device.
Interviewer: I had not considered this. I
know that there are internal and external
conflicts a character might face, right?
Prof. Flick: That’s true, and we’ve already
discussed a lot of that. For instance, a
conflict within our mind is a form of internal
conflict, whereas violence or power
relations between different groups are
external conflicts.
Interviewer: That makes sense. What
else is there to a plot’s conflict?
Prof. Flick: Have you seen the plot
diagram called Freytag’s pyramid?
Interviewer: Yes, it’s really famous. The
model begins with exposition, followed by
conflict, right? Then there is rising action,
4
climax, falling action, and then resolution,
correct?

Prof. Flick: You’re absolutely right. I think

that the best way to think about plot might
be like this: the exposition “exposes” a
flaw about our hero. Then, an event
happens which causes either an external
or internal conflict. It could be a war, new
laws which exclude women, a boss
decreasing wages, or the loss of a loved
one. As a result of this conflict, a hero
must repair their flaw exposed in the
exposition and pass a series of tests, all
building up to a final moment, a battle if
you will. If the hero has improved, they will
likely overcome the conflict and the story
usually ends well. However, if the hero has
not fixed their flaws, the conflict might
overcome them, making the story tragic.

Interviewer: Thank you. I had never

considered looking at a plot that way. So, I
think we’ve covered a lot about conflict
today. This is all really useful to a student
of literature. I appreciate this.

Prof. Flick: My pleasure.