Internal Conflict

Man vs. Self

The character struggles with a choice, decision, or issue they must face and deal with.

Types of External Conflict

There are different types of external conflicts found in stories among which the most common are:

Man vs. Man

This type of conflict occurs when a character struggles against other characters in the story, for instance in Harry Potter series. Harry engages himself in a battle against Harry Lord Voldemort.

Man vs. Society

This external conflict occurs when the main character stands up to support his beliefs and struggles against society or a group of people, like The Hunger Games where Katniss must defeat those in The Capitol.

Man vs. Nature

In this type of external conflict, the protagonist struggle against the forces of nature or external environment, like in the short story, “To Build a Fire”, Jack London tells a story of an anonymous narrator and his dog, traveling through wilderness of Yukon Trail.