Conflict in Literature

Conflict in literature is a tool by which the author keeps the reader reading. Fearing for Andersons’ life Nick warns him of the impending danger; however Anderson gives the impression that he couldn’t care less. However there is the chance that she may be contemplating leaving him. In his attempt to warn George Willard about the troubles women can bring, the reader learns of Williams past love. I feel that these give the greatest insight to the reader on the roles that conflicts take in the story. The second is not revealed until later, the feeling that his book may never be written.

The first conflict is in the form of a letter that Rose writes to Margaret concerning George. He doesn’t realize this and falls under the misconception that the town’s people would form a mob to hang him because of his lack of sympathy for the young girl. It is through these characters that the sense of conflict can be ascertained. He is a rather eccentric man who has a small practice in Winesburg. He enjoys talking, even when the talking is purely fabricated. Biddlebaum is portrayed as a ‘timid and shadowy personality who is submerged in a sea of doubts’. rpose for being at the dinner that evening is as hired thugs.

Glasgow’s “The Difference” is abundant with conflict. Hemingway’s “The Killers,” Glasgow’s “The Difference,” and “Hands,” “The Philosopher,” and “Respectability” from Anderson’s Winesburg, Ohio have each shown their own individual form of conflict that may or may not have been resolved.