Activity 3.2.1: Conflict in Diverse Narratives Activity
Learning Targets
I can create conflicts that reveal character and drive a story forward.
Why This Matters
In Lesson 3.2, you explored six types of conflict and learned how different storytelling traditions emphasize different types. Now you'll practice analyzing conflict across narratives from different cultural perspectives. When you can recognize and work with multiple types of conflict, you'll have more tools as a writer. You won't be limited to Western-style external conflict—you can build stories around internal growth, balance, community healing, or spiritual restoration.
Analyze Conflict Across Narrative Traditions
Below are three brief scenario descriptions from different storytelling traditions. For each scenario, identify the conflict, name its type, think about how resolution might look in that tradition, and consider how the type of conflict shapes what the story is really about.
Scenario A: Western-Style Fantasy Quest
The Situation: A village is terrorized by a dragon. The kingdom's knight commander leads an expedition to slay the dragon and save the village. The knight faces the dragon in combat, and through valor and sword skill, defeats it. The village is saved. The dragon is dead. The knight is celebrated as a hero.
1. What is the conflict in this scenario?
2. What type of conflict is this?
Is this internal or external? Is it character vs. character, character vs. nature, character vs. society, or something else?
3. How would resolution look in this tradition?
4. What is this story really about?
What message or theme does the type of conflict create?
Scenario B: Japanese-Inspired Narrative (Kishōtenketsu)
The Situation: A young warrior believes dragons are purely evil and must be destroyed. For years, they train for the day they can fight a dragon. Finally, they encounter one—but the dragon does not attack. Instead, the dragon shows the warrior its nest of eggs, explaining that humans have been stealing them. The warrior realizes the "evil" dragon was defending its family. The warrior must now choose: kill the dragon anyway, as they trained to do, or break their understanding of good and evil. They choose to protect the dragon and its eggs. The warrior and dragon become partners. The village and the dragons learn to coexist.
1. What is the conflict in this scenario?
2. What type of conflict is this?
Where is the main tension—inside or outside the character? What is being fought?
3. How would resolution look in this tradition?
4. What is this story really about?
What message or theme does the type of conflict create?
Scenario C: Indigenous-Inspired Narrative
The Situation: The river that feeds the village has stopped flowing. The crops are dying. People are suffering. The elders gather and perform a ceremony to listen to the river and understand what is broken. They discover that a mining operation upstream has diverted the water. But they also discover something deeper: the human community has grown out of balance with the natural world. They have taken without giving back. The elders call a council with the miners and the whole community. Together, they devise a plan: the miners will restore the water flow, the community will establish a sacred grove where no harvest is allowed (a gift to the earth), and everyone will participate in seasonal ceremonies to maintain balance with the river. Harmony is restored. The river flows. The relationship between humans, earth, and water is healed.
1. What is the conflict in this scenario?
2. What type of conflict is this?
Is this primarily about an individual character, a community, a relationship with nature, or something else?
3. How would resolution look in this tradition?
4. What is this story really about?
What message or theme does the type of conflict create?
Compare the Three Scenarios
Now that you've analyzed conflict in three different traditions, reflect on the bigger picture:
5. How did the type of conflict shape each story?
Go back and look at the three scenarios. How is Scenario A different from Scenario B? How is Scenario B different from Scenario C? What did the conflict types reveal about what each story valued?
6. Which tradition speaks to you as a writer?
You don't have to write only in one tradition. But which of these conflict types—and the values they reflect—resonates with you? Why?
Process Evidence
Submit your answers to all six questions. Your responses show that you can identify conflict types, understand how different traditions approach conflict differently, and think about what those choices mean for a story.
What's Next
Once you've completed this analysis, move to Check Your Understanding: Conflict to verify that you understand the key concepts from Lesson 3.2. Then you'll be ready to apply conflict to your own writing in Unit 3's assignments.