Conflict as Competing Values
| English | Chinese | Pinyin |
|---|---|---|
| Conflict | 冲突 | chōng tū |
The definition is about values, not fighting
- Conflict 冲突 is tension between competing values — either within a character (internal or psychological conflict) or with outside forces that obstruct a character (external conflict).
- Competing values is the load-bearing phrase.
- Two people who dislike each other are not in conflict until something they each value is at stake.
Conflict is defined as tension between...
Two people who dislike each other are not in conflict until values are at stake.
Texts carry more than one
- A text may contain multiple conflicts, and often two or more intersect.
- Intersect means they share a character, a choice, or a stake.
- Finding the intersection is usually more valuable than listing the conflicts.
Select all the CED's statements about conflict.
Multiple conflicts are the norm, and their intersections are where to write.
Intersection heightens
- A primary conflict can be heightened by the presence of additional conflicts that intersect with it.
- So a second conflict is not a distraction from the main one — it raises its temperature.
- The scene where two conflicts meet is almost always the scene worth writing about.
Internal, external, or an inconsistency?
Sort each tension by the CED's category.
An additional conflict distracts from the primary conflict and weakens it.
An intersecting conflict heightens the primary one — it raises the temperature.
A conflict needs two values named, not one. "He is in conflict with his father" names an opponent, not a conflict. "He values the farm's survival; his father values not being pitied" names the tension — and only that version can be developed with evidence.
Match each observation to what it is.
The third is not an error in the writing — the gap is the conflict.
Inconsistencies as evidence
- Inconsistencies in a text may create contrasts that represent conflicts of values or perspectives.
- A character who says one thing and does another is not badly written; the gap is the conflict.
- So an inconsistency is a place to look, not an error to explain away.
A conflict is only half-described until you name ____ competing values.
"He is in conflict with his father" names an opponent, not a conflict.
A conflict pass
- For each conflict, name both values — a conflict with one named value is half-described.
- Mark it internal or external, and find where two of them intersect.
- List the inconsistencies; each one is a candidate conflict you have not named yet.
Internal: she values her own work against her duty to stay. External: the bank values repayment against her keeping the house. They intersect on one decision — to sell — and the second conflict is what makes the first unbearable rather than merely difficult.
Conflict is tension between competing values, internal (within a character) or external (with obstructing forces). A text may hold multiple conflicts that intersect, and an intersecting conflict heightens the primary one. Inconsistencies can represent conflicts of values or perspectives.