II. THE CONCEPT OF CONFLICT
2.1 The Definition of Conflict
A human being has several basic needs that must be fulfilled in order to survive. Those basic needs are drinks, food, home, oxygen, and so on,
which are mostly needed for the scale of physical growth or survival, above all, there is something which is essential for mental development and
psychological satisfaction that is environment. In order to pursue those needs a human being is in conflict with another. Conflict is the universal
problems of every human being as long as they are still alive. They are unable to avoid from what is called conflict. Collin’s English Language
Dictionary says that: “Conflict is an encounter between a character’s
purpose and obstacle of other’s purpose, the forces of hostile environment” 1984:70
From the statement above, we can conclude that conflict refers to the
opposition or disagreement felt by someone that is related to his mind way of thinking and feeling. Conflict sometimes causes harm to someone or to
another person who is involved in the conflict.
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Conflict according to the above dictionary clearer explanation is further stated in Dictionary of World Literature 1968:75 ,
“Involves two opposing forces; these forces may be embodied 1.
In two individuals, hero and villain Treasure Island, All
melodramas. 2.
In one person and society Dickens Social novels, most fiction
spanning a whole life. 3.
Within one individual, the protagonist, as when love and duty. A Tale of Two Cities combines the inner and the outer conflict. There
must also be a cause of opposition, or a goal. The events of the conflict form the plot.
From the quotation above there are three types of conflict. The first and two are called outer conflict, while the third one is inner conflict. Conflict is
an important element in plot structure , although sometimes the conflict is not clearly described. Different from the above opinion Kenny 1966:19
Stated that conflict may also occur between man nature. In this case there is
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a struggle between man and nature such as described in The Old Man And The Sea where Santiago has to fight against Marlin and Sharks.
A conflict is also meant as an encounter between a characters purpose and obstacles to their fulfillment. This may consist of other’s
purpose. The forces of hostile environment or wearing impulses within the character himself. Sometimes conflicts are related to the sadism or brutally
as Paul B.Horton and Chester L. Hunt says: “The atrocities in conflict are often mistakenly attributed
his sadism or brutality of the individuals who commit them. Yet ordinary people in a extradinary situation
commit most of the atrocity in group conflicts. The conflict process often places people in roles where must
be brutal”1976:71
This statement is surely true because nowadays so maniacs acted by persons that we know as good citizen. We will never know a man who thinks about
one thing in a certain situation, unless we have known him for a long time. Even a close friend can be an enemy if the condition and situation change
him. When the conflict appears in life, the reaction of different individuals
who are involved is different too. Some of individuals may face the reaction with emotion, but some other people may solve the conflict in compromise.
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It means that the individuals who are involved will have the response to approach two objects at the same time or to keep a distance from both of the
alternatives have two characteristic, advantage or disadvantage. On the order hand, we can say that a conflict is like a competition because the
purpose is to defeat his rivals. Someone who is involved in the conflict tries his effort to offset the order to gain his needs or desires. So a conflict
influences the mental of someone become who may depressed on as Moskowitz says:
“Depression is not an illness, it follows no regular course has no particular or specific outcome. It is type
of emotional reaction with distinctive characteristic, the roots of the characteristic exist in
everyone”1969:178
The novel Love Story talks about conflict besides the romantic love and sadness. Beginning with the relationship between Jenny is the girl from the
poor family and her husband Oliver is the boy from the rich family, in their marriage appear many conflicts.
Usually, a narrative whether a novel or short story has an introduction, a complication and a resolution. In the middle of the story
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some difficulties arises. Conflict is the opposition of person or forces upon which the action depends on drama and fiction.
It is common that everyone will experience conflict in his life since conflict is a natural part of human life. It exists as a phenomenon in every
type of human relationships at any level from intrapersonal to global. Marcus 2000:366 defines that conflict is incompability of ideas,
beliefs, behavior, roles, needs, desires, values, and so on. While Sanderson 1991:505 defines conflict as an opposition of interest between and among
various individual and social groups, which may or may not be overly observable, and which may or may not break out into dispute or physical
violence. Based on the definition above, it is seen that the existence of conflict
refers to the incompability of things between two or more people or groups of people who get involved with each other.
Things that become the core of conflict could be related to human needs. When people have needs that are not met or incompatible with the
other people’s needs, they are in conflict. Need is a force in the brain region
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that organizes perception, thought, and action so as to change an existing unsatisfactory condition Deutsch and Coleman,2000:297
2.2. The Definition of Internal Conflict