This essay examines the role of conflict in three canonical works of short fiction: Franz Kafka's "The Metamorphosis," Herman Melville's "Bartleby the Scrivener," and Gabriel García Márquez's "Chronicle of a Death Foretold." The paper argues that conflict—whether born from personal alienation, incomprehensible behavior, or conflicting perspectives on a shared event—is the engine that makes fiction compelling and true to human experience. By analyzing how each author deploys conflict to illuminate themes such as self-worth, freedom, family, and the subjectivity of truth, the essay concludes that accepting conflict as an inherent feature of life is itself a form of wisdom.
Conflict makes everything more interesting. While we do not generally welcome conflict, we can acknowledge that it will always be present as long as human beings populate the earth.
Because art reflects life, conflict makes fiction both interesting and successful. Franz Kafka's short story "The Metamorphosis" is an example of how conflict becomes visible after a traumatic event occurs. Herman Melville's "Bartleby the Scrivener" allows us to see how conflict arises when things become confusing. In Gabriel García Márquez's "Chronicle of a Death Foretold," conflict emerges through different perspectives recalling the same event. These stories illustrate the importance of conflict in our lives. We do not like dealing with it, but at times it becomes necessary to do so. Conflict can help us see things clearly, and it can also make things more confusing. It gives life a flavor that forces us to pay attention even when we think we have no need to. Through fiction, we can come to understand these concepts.
Kafka reveals conflict in "The Metamorphosis" through Gregor's personal situation. He awakens to find himself in a horrifying physical state and is forced to reflect upon his life. This causes two things to occur immediately: alienation and rejection. Gregor is alienated in his new body, and while he hides in his room, he is forced to come to terms with what he has made of his life thus far. He thinks of the endless hours he spent working and comes to realize that getting out of bed so early and working so much "makes one stupid" (Kafka 742). He has no friends; those he once considered friends are simply "casual acquaintances that are always new" (742). Lying in bed, Gregor realizes how much he hated his life when he had a normal, human body. With the body of a bug, he understands how he has wasted his life.
Another source of conflict Kafka brings to light is that of family. Gregor's family rallied around him when he was earning an income and supporting them. Without his money, they begin to treat him badly. They see no use for him and show very little concern for him in his transformed state. The family grows increasingly insensitive as time passes, and eventually they simply want to be rid of him, viewing him as a burden. They recover from his death by taking time for "resting and going for a stroll" (Kafka 777). Kafka's conflict in this story ultimately comes down to self-appreciation and communication. Gregor considers his life tolerable before he wakes up as a bug, but lying in that room without hope, he begins to see the profound conflict he invited into his own life long before his transformation.
Melville focuses on conflict through Bartleby's strange behavior. Individuality and freedom emerge as central themes as we watch Bartleby change. He chooses to behave in a particular way, and in doing so he bucks the system entirely. The conflict the narrator experiences with Bartleby becomes extremely problematic within his own mind, as he discovers himself becoming "considerably reconciled" (Melville 1010) to Bartleby's presence. Bartleby is undoubtedly evading work, but there is clearly more going on. The narrator attempts to get to the heart of the matter — for his own sake as much as for Bartleby's. When he encounters Bartleby working on a Sunday, he feels an "overpowering stinging melancholy" (1015). This shift in attitude is significant because it demonstrates how fickle human beings can be and how easily emotions overwhelm us.
The narrator eventually grows repulsed by Bartleby and concludes that he must be suffering from some form of mental illness. The less the narrator knows about Bartleby, the worse things seem for him. He wants to make sense of things — he wants everything to be comprehensible. The conflict arises from his inability to achieve that understanding. Melville is demonstrating how we cannot always know everything and how we must find peace with that reality, lest we lose our sanity. It is also worth noting that some things are simply not meant to be fully understood. Melville does not attempt to explain everything in this story because we often face situations that will never be truly resolved.
"Competing perspectives reveal the subjectivity of truth"
These authors use conflict to emphasize human nature. Each of these stories and characters is different, but they share the notion that conflict exists and that we all deal with it in different ways. Sometimes it takes conflict to open our eyes to the truth of the lives we are living, and if we are fortunate, that conflict teaches us to live even better lives. Conflict might teach us to accept the things we cannot change, sparing us from the headaches and arguments that stem from a lack of understanding.
You’re 64% through this paper. Sign up to read the remaining 1 section.
Sign Up Now — Instant Access Already a member? Log inAlways verify citation format against your institution’s current style guide requirements.