Conflict and Resolution

Photo courtesy: David Loudon

All good things must come to an end, even the plot of a novel. If the central conflict of the plot has been building throughout the piece, putting pressure on the protagonist to act and react, the conflict will reach its crescendo in the resolution.

Traditionally, fiction concludes when the conflict in the story is resolved. The protagonist dies…gets the girl...gets the job…wins the big race…fails and becomes a bum, and so on. Resolution is, classically, the release of tension caused by the central conflict that had built up during the course of the story. It is like removing a whistling kettle from a hot stove. Once the source of pressure is gone, the whole affair cools down and quickly reverts to a steady state.

Small conflicts may have separate resolutions. Many fine stories and novels end with unresolved conflict. Genre fiction, including horror, romance, action/adventure and fantasy novels, almost always ends with the resolution of the major conflict.

The climax, or high point of the rising action, is intimately connected with the resolution of the conflict, since the resolution of the conflict usually occurs in a climactic scene. The climax and the resolution are often followed by a scene or two of declining action, called the denouement, in which the writer wraps up any loose threads and draws the novel to a finish, often with a reference to an event or image from the beginning.

Resolution of conflict often involves the death of the antagonist, or at least an act which renders him harmless to the principle characters. In Dickens’ Oliver Twist, for example, the detestable but somewhat pathetic Fagin is hauled off to prison, while Bill Sykes, a more vicious antagonist, is killed.

Plot Exercise
Objective: to identify conflict and resolution

Using 3-4 classic or popular novels, identify the central conflict and resolution, or climax, in each. What, if anything, do all these conflicts and resolutions have in common?

Examples:

Ethan Frome (Edith Wharton): Ethan and his domineering wife Zenobia endure a bleak, barren life in New England until Zenobia’s cousin, Mattie Silver, comes to live with them. Ethan and Mattie are attracted to one another but realize that their relationship is doomed before it starts. Desperate to escape their dull lives, Ethan and Mattie take a dangerous sled ride, intending to end it all. Their plan goes awry and Ethan is crippled. Mattie becomes an invalid, totally dependent on Zenobia.

Passage to India (E.M. Forster): A young woman visiting India is overwhelmed as the exotic culture seems to strip away her sexual repression. Falsely accusing a Hindu doctor of rape, she is forced to confront her own weaknesses and prejudices on the witness stand.

Anna Karenina (Leo Tolstoy): A woman abandons her husband and child for her dashing lover. When he grows bored with her and leaves her to go to war, she commits suicide by throwing herself under the wheels of his train.

Watership Down (Richard Adams): Hazel, a rabbit, and his companions struggle to build a new warren after theirs is destroyed. They must defend their new home against a monstrous “chief rabbit” and his hordes.

The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood): The protagonist, a “broodmare” in a futuristic totalitarian civilization, acts as a spy for an organization trying to overthrow the corrupt, misogynistic regime. Just as she is certain she is about to be arrested for subversive activities, she contacts an ally who promises to rescue her.

Plot Exercise
Objective: To bring the conflict to a resolution

In this exercise you will bring the conflict to a resolution. Sally (your protagonist) has been devoted to her fiancé, Jim, who was her childhood sweetheart. Jim has been missing in action for the past three years. She slowly allows herself to fall in love with Robert, an older man who is supportive and caring. Sally is about to agree to marry Robert when Jim arrives at her home. She learns that Jim was using the status of missing in action as a cover to go AWOL. He wants her to go away with him. The resolution of this story will come when Sally make a decision between her two suitors.

Write the scene in which she makes her decision. Remember to show her internal reactions (thoughts and emotions) as well as her physical, external actions. The climax for this scenario may come at the moment Sally realizes what her decisions will be; it may not necessarily be the moment at which she informs her suitors of her decision.

For more helpful tips and exercises, visit www.sterlinghouse-bookstore.com and check out:
Writing Aerobics I by C. Sterling and M. Davidson

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