Table de matières
The general introduction has presented a general picture of what this study is about. This chapter is concerned with two elements. It reviews the existing literature on conflict analysis and thematic study. It defines the key concept and presents other very important ideas that help so much in the study of conflicts and themes in a work of art.
Conflict is an important element in the study of stories, novels, plays, in Movies, etc. Generally, a conflict is known as a struggle between opposite forces or points of view in a short story, novel, plays, a narrative poem. According to Hornby (2006-304), a conflict is a situation in which people or countries are involved in serious disagreement. It is also a situation or period of fighting between two people or groups with opposing ideas, opinions, feelings and thoughts.
The Conflict is any struggle between two individuals, between an individual and an animal, such a conflict is called an external conflict, ie. a conflict in which individuals struggle against something outside themselves.
An internal conflict is a conflict that takes place between an individual and natural forces. This conflict occurs when an individual has within him/herself two opposing ideas, arguments or choices, i.e. when someone is unable to choose between two or more things or needs.
Conflict analysis is the study of problems between characters in a narrative. It is about the manifestation of various problems in a novel, story, movie, etc. It helps in the interpretation of the message that we find in the narrative for gaining a letter understanding of some context.
The basis of conflict in fiction has been commonly codified as man versus man, man versus natural, and man versus self. Sometimes, it adds man against fate and man against supernatural forces. A conflict may be internal or external.
A conflict is said to be internal when a character gets challenged by forces within himself or herself. In this case, he or she is confronted with inner doubts fear or inhibition, internal dilemma or psychological conflict. Then, the character in such a situation is in conflict with himself or herself against something but this is not known by his or her environment or neighborhood. He or she discloses it to himself or herself. This conflict is realized within the character’s mind. A conflict choice between two or many opposing forces or thing puts him or her in dilemma.
According to Chinuza (2009:8), a conflict is said to be internal when it takes place in the mind of a character. It is a struggle between opposing forces, desires or emotion in a person.
It is possible to observe a clash between two or more character; between some characters and their society, between character and the nature, between an individual and an animal or between characters and supernatural forces. Such kinds of conflicts results from actions and relationships of character and are structured on a line called time line.
Scholes (1981:742) illustrates a character’s actions and relationship, and suggests that the action of a convention dramatic narrative may be presented by a diagram called Freytag’s Triangle.
To indicate a conflict implies to represent it logically. According to Griffith (1996:19),a plot is a pattern of carefully related events that contains a conflict Plot helps the reader to reveal the conflict that occurs in a narrative with their causes as well as their resolutions made upon it by the characters.
A conflict triangle describes the movement of the character from conflict to its specific resolution. A conflict draws a logical and natural sequence of actions or happenings.
According to Kabundula (2006:4), a triangle notation or triangular relationship of a conflict is the better way of indicating any social problem within a narrative because the origins, effects and resolution of any conflict within a character are revealed thanks to the triangle notation. A Triangle notation is structured as follows:
A
This Triangle shows character A and B and problem O. i.e the character A may oppose the character B about the problem or conflict O. Concerning the way of revealing a conflict; the character, especially the main character, does this best to find harmony that he/she lost for him/herself if it is an inner conflict or for her community if the conflict is external.
The above structure indicates how the conflict C starts, how it progresses and how it ends with a particular resolution(R). It is generally used to study conflict in a narrative. To indicate a conflict, it requires the knowledge of the subjects which are in that conflict. In so doing, one must identify who is in conflict with whom and about what. After this, one has to reveal how the conflict comes to the end within the narrative and what makes up its unit.
This triangle notation shows the main protagonist A, the antagonist B and the problem O which is opposing the two persons, forces or ideas etc.it ends with the resolution which is the inherent C to R process.
The conflict evolves through a series of phrases:
 A stable situation
 Lament conflict
 Emergence
 Escalation
 Hurting, stalemate
 De-escalatation
 Post conflict, peace building and reconciliation
However, the potential for conflict exists whenever people have different needs, values or interests; this is the lament conflict stage. The conflict becomes apparent until a triggering event leads to the emergence or beginning of the obvious conflict. Emergence may quickly begin by settlement, resolution or by escalation, which can become very destructive. Escalation, however, cannot continue indefinitely. It can be temporary part of a broader trend toward the settlement or resolution. It may lead to a stalemate, a situation in which neither side can win. If the pain of continuing the conflict exceeds that of maintaining the confrontation, the parties are in what Zatman calls a hurting stalemate, which often presents an ideal opportunity for negotiation and a potential settlement. Finally, if or when an agreement is reached, peace building efforts work to repair damaged relationships with the long term goal of reconciling former opponents.
Masumbuko (2007:33) ,says that there are five phases of conflict:
 A state of equilibrium
 Inciting event/inciting
 Series of complication
 Climax culmination, the point of great intensity
 The denouement where everything is made clear and stable.
Statement of the strategies that must be applied in order to carry out the analysis of the conflict because they are of paramount importance These strategies are vital since they provide the reader with the knowledge about the way a researcher succeed in achieving the analysis of conflict from the beginning up to the end of a narrative. The analysis of a conflict in a literary work must start with the identification of the characters that are deeply involved in a conflict, their relationships, the nature of their conflicts, and the problem which opposes them.
That is, the reader will find answer to the questions:
Hornby (2000:1240), defines theme as a subject or main idea in a piece of writing or the main idea that the story expresses about life and people. A theme is also the fundamental and mostly universal idea explored in a literary work.
Generally, theme is defined as a bread idea in a story or a message conveyed by a work of art. It is always about society or human nature. It is also a semantic element that is repeated through a text or a group of text.
Theme is what the writer intends to say to us by writing the story. It is the message that we take away from the story or memoire.
Theme is usually implicitly or explicitly stated. Some readers would say that all story inherently have some kind of outlook one life that can be taken as a theme regardless of whether or not this is the intent of the author. Furthermore, a theme can also have different elements such as a character is action and resolution which contribute most heavily to its formulation.
Themes also have a role of interpretation, helping to ensure the story which is represented in ways that makes connection between the collection and the wider history or environment of a subject.
Thematic study is one of the most commonly used methods of qualitative analysis. However, as a method, it has received little attention and accounts of how to carry out a thematic study are scarce. Many searchers gloss over what they actually did when carrying out a thematic analysis. This means that method is not easily accessed by novice as some other approaches.
The thematic study is not as depend on specialized theory like some other qualitative techniques such as discourses analysis, conversation analysis, consequences, etc. In thematic study, the researcher should be extremely familiar with this/ her data about the limited number of theme which adequately reflect their textual data if the study is to be expedited and insightful. Following data familiarization, the research will normally code data.
Themes originate from interaction among characters, i.e from characters’ actions reaction, interactions, thoughts, speech, and behavior. A literary work theme belongs to a certain categorization such as manner of putting together similar ideas. It is also worth mentioning that theme originates from how characters solve conflict among themselves. Generally, all literary works center on the following themes: love, life and death.
In order to dig out the theme in a literary work, one ought to read that work which can be either a novel, movie, short story…several time. The reason for this is that in some work of arts theme are not generally expressed directly via a key sentence or a paragraph.
Generally, themes require the interpretation of the text on the part of the reader, whose attention should be focused on what he is analyzing or reading. Here are steps to take into account when analyzing themes in a literary work. First, one must identify some important passages or individuals sentences in the story and think about what they add up to text Second, one must think about how the main character has changed in the story and what characters learn can be stated as theme or the story. Does anything in the story contradict the state theme? If so, one will have to change has/her statement. In addition to that, Griffith (1982) argues that a theme deals with the following four general areas:
According to Scheub (1985:61), themes are always revealed through actions, through the working out of conflict and resolution in the image of juxtaposition of this surface.
The same writer’s argument is also stated by Hawthorn (1985:61), who states that theme may be convert, that is to say it can be consciously indicated much as by other or alternatively be discovered by the reader and/or critics.
Thematic study, the researcher should at any stage modify the analysis in the light of his/her experience and ideas developed in the whole work. Then, the researcher may adjust earlier coding, then define and describe each theme sufficiently so that it is clear to readers what the theme is exactly. However, the researcher needs to identify examples of each theme. He must illustrate what the analysis has achieved.
Thematic study focuses on identifiable themes and patterns of living. This step is to collect the appropriate data. From the scribed conversation patterns of experience can be listed. This can come from direct quotes, or from paraphrasing common ideas. The fact of identifying all the data that relate to the already classified patterns, then the researcher can combine and relate patterns into sub-themes.
According to Anssan Nan (2009:388-395), the last step in thematic study is to build a valid argument for choosing the intended themes. This is done by reading the related literature. Once themes have been collected and literature studied, the researcher is ready to formulate theme statements to develop a story. When the literature is woven with the findings, the story or the study that the researcher constructs is one that stands with merits, and thematic analysis helps that reader to comprehend to press, understanding, and motivation of the researcher.
Normally, literary works focus on three main themes, mainly life, love and death. They have never been altered because whatever the author tackle as theme in literary work turns around one of these main ones.
But what makes the difference is that writer use them in their respective realities. They continue to discover new ways of looking at them and will continue to do. The point is that literature originally consists not in discovering new but in expressing the old unchanged ones in new ways.
This chapter has tackled the review of literary on conflict analysis and thematic study. It is defined some key concepts of both studies and presented the many ideas which are useful for the analysis of conflicts and themes in a work of art. It also developed some techniques applied to thematic study in a narrative. The next chapter will discuss the conflict analysis of the Housemaid, a Tanzanian movie by Hemed Suleiman.
Afric mémoire est une plateforme web pour le partage des mémoires et TFC entre étudiants du monde entier.
Enregistrer en PDF
Imprimer cette page
