Fictional human responses are brought out to their highest degree in the development of a conflict.In its most elemental form,a conflict is the opposition of two people. They may fight,argue,enlist help against each other,and otherwise carry on their opposition.Conflicts may also exist between larger groups of people,although in fiction conflicts between individuals are more identifiable and therefore often more interesting.Conflicts may also exist between an individual and larger forces,such as natural objects,ideas,modes of behaviors,pubic opinions,and the like.The existence of difficult choices within an individual's mind may also be presented as conflict,or dilemma.In addition,the conflict may be presented not as direct opposition,but rather as a set of comparative or contrastive ideas or values.In short,there are many ways to bring out a conflict in fiction. Types of Conflict External Conflict External conflict may take the form of a basic opposition between man and nature(as it does in Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea or Jack London's To Build a Fire cf.P.65),or between man and society (as it does in Theodore Dreiser's An American Tragedy or Richard Wright's The Man who Was Almost a Man).It may also take the form of an opposition between man and man(between the protagonist and a human adversary,the antagonist),as,for example,in most detective stories,in which Sherlock Holmes(the detective created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)or a C.Auguste Dupin (the one created by Edgar Allan Poe)is asked to match wits with a cunning criminal. Internal Conflict Internal conflict,on the other hand,focuses on two or more elements contesting within the protagonist's own character,as in Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, where Kurtz struggles and fails to subdue the savage instincts concealed beneath his civilized veneer. Some conflicts,in fact,are never made explicit and must be inferred by readerFictional human responses are brought out to their highest degree in the development of a conflict. In its most elemental form, a conflict is the opposition of two people. They may fight, argue, enlist help against each other, and otherwise carry on their opposition. Conflicts may also exist between larger groups of people, although in fiction conflicts between individuals are more identifiable and therefore often more interesting. Conflicts may also exist between an individual and larger forces, such as natural objects, ideas, modes of behaviors, pubic opinions, and the like. The existence of difficult choices within an individual’s mind may also be presented as conflict, or dilemma. In addition, the conflict may be presented not as direct opposition, but rather as a set of comparative or contrastive ideas or values. In short, there are many ways to bring out a conflict in fiction. Types of Conflict External Conflict External conflict may take the form of a basic opposition between man and nature(as it does in Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea or Jack London’s To Build a Fire cf. P.65), or between man and society (as it does in Theodore Dreiser’s An American Tragedy or Richard Wright’s The Man who Was Almost a Man). It may also take the form of an opposition between man and man (between the protagonist and a human adversary, the antagonist), as, for example, in most detective stories, in which Sherlock Holmes (the detective created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle) or a C. Auguste Dupin (the one created by Edgar Allan Poe) is asked to match wits with a cunning criminal. Internal Conflict Internal conflict, on the other hand, focuses on two or more elements contesting within the protagonist’s own character, as in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, where Kurtz struggles and fails to subdue the savage instincts concealed beneath his civilized veneer. Some conflicts, in fact, are never made explicit and must be inferred by reader