Ib P2: Conflicts In Literature (Good v. Evil/Good)

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In literature there is conflict between good and evil, as well as between good and good, but for a reader it is not always easy to decide who is ‘good’ and who is ‘evil’ and this is done purposefully so by the author. This decision often depends both on the character’s perceptions of each other and the reader’s perceptions of the conflict. These types of conflicts can be often seen in both “Chronicle of a Death Foretold”, a novella by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and “Pride and Prejudice”, a novel by Jane Austen. In both these stories it can be seen how both perceptions do affect the ‘labeling’ between good and evil in a conflict. Both conflicts are important as they can either act as an insight into a character’s mind, serve as a moral to the story, or even as a way to show relationships between characters. In “Chronicle” there is a love conflict where the ‘labeling’ as to who is ‘evil’ and who is ‘good’ is greatly affected by both the reader’s perception and the character’s perception. This conflict is between Bayardo and Angela – he rejected her when he discovered that she was not actually a virgin. This conflict was revealed when Bayardo brought Angela back to her house, where she was then beaten by her mother. In this case, even when some readers might agree with the character’s perceptions, their reactions are thought of as too exaggerated and unnecessary. Angela tells the narrator that her mother beat her so hard that “[Angela] thought she was going to kill [her]” This type of reaction would have never been considered acceptable, to what most think of nowadays as a minor matter: losing one’s virginity before marriage. The reader’s perception to this conflict is that it is a conflict between ‘good’ and ‘good’, but through the character’s perception this is clearly a ‘good’ vs. ‘evil’ case. The town where the book is set has a strong Catholic culture and therefore
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