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Gerry says:<br>
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Most literature students are aware that there is one basic concept
called "conflict" and this results in 7 plots found in all literature.
These are:<br>
<br>
<ol>
<li><b>Man vs. Nature</b> as in <i><a title="Tarzan"
href="/index.pl?node=Tarzan">Tarzan</a></i>, <i><a
title="Robinson Crusoe" href="/index.pl?node=Robinson%20Crusoe">Robinson
Crusoe</a></i>, <i><a title="The Call Of The Wild"
href="/index.pl?node=The%20Call%20Of%20The%20Wild">The Call Of The Wild</a></i>
and <i><a title="Moby Dick" href="/index.pl?node=Moby%20Dick">Moby Dick</a></i>.</li>
<li><b>Man vs. Man </b>exemplified by <i><a title="Shane"
href="/index.pl?node=Shane">Shane</a></i>, <i><a title="Othello"
href="/index.pl?node=Othello">Othello</a></i>, and <i><a
title="Les Miserables" href="/index.pl?node=Les%20Miserables">Les
Miserables</a></i>. </li>
<li><b>Man vs. Environment </b>found in <a title="Dickens"
href="/index.pl?node=Dickens">Dickens</a> - <i><a title="Oliver Twist"
href="/index.pl?node=Oliver%20Twist">Oliver Twist</a></i> or <i><a
title="David Copperfield" href="/index.pl?node=David%20Copperfield">David
Copperfield</a></i>, for example. </li>
<li><b>Man vs. God </b>such as <a title="Hermann Hesse"
href="/index.pl?node=Hermann%20Hesse">Hermann Hesse</a>'s <i><a
title="Siddhartha" href="/index.pl?node=Siddhartha">Siddhartha</a></i>
and the classic <i><a title="Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance"
href="/index.pl?node=Zen%20And%20The%20Art%20Of%20Motorcycle%20Maintenance">Zen
And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance</a></i>. For more overt battles
with the heavens, see <a title="Homer" href="/index.pl?node=Homer">Homer</a>'s
<i><a title="The Odyssey" href="/index.pl?node=The%20Odyssey">The
Odyssey</a></i> or the Book of <a title="Job" href="/index.pl?node=Job">Job</a>
in <a title="The Bible" href="/index.pl?node=The%20Bible">The Bible</a>.
</li>
<li><b>Man vs. Supernatural </b>as in <a title="H.G. Wells"
href="/index.pl?node=H.G.%20Wells">H.G. Wells</a>' <i><a
title="War Of The Worlds" href="/index.pl?node=War%20Of%20The%20Worlds">War
Of The Worlds</a></i> and <a title="Washington Irving"
href="/index.pl?node=Washington%20Irving">Washington Irving</a>'s <i><a
title="The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow"
href="/index.pl?node=The%20Legend%20Of%20Sleepy%20Hollow">The Legend
Of Sleepy Hollow</a></i>. Often instead the supernatural in turn act as
a <a title="catalyst" href="/index.pl?node=catalyst">catalyst</a> for
other conflict - <a title="William Peter Blatty"
href="/index.pl?node=William%20Peter%20Blatty">William Peter Blatty</a>'s
<i><a title="The Exorcist" href="/index.pl?node=The%20Exorcist">The
Exorcist</a></i> causes Father Mike to question himself, and <a
title="Edgar Allan Poe" href="/index.pl?node=Edgar%20Allan%20Poe">Edgar
Allan Poe</a>'s <i><a title="The Tell-Tale Heart"
href="/index.pl?node=The%20Tell-Tale%20Heart">The Tell-Tale Heart</a></i>
uses the <a title="spectral" href="/index.pl?node=spectral">spectral</a>
beating of a dead man's heart to illustrate a murderer's descent into <a
title="madness" href="/index.pl?node=madness">madness</a>. </li>
<li><b>Man vs. Self. </b>Having now conquered all things that man
cannot directly control - nature, God, other men, his environment, and
the supernatural - he now finds that he must not be in conflict with
himself in order to attain <a title="happiness"
href="/index.pl?node=happiness">happiness</a>. Sometimes these
conflicts can be desperately dark and painful - <i><a
title="Requiem For A Dream"
href="/index.pl?node=Requiem%20For%20A%20Dream">Requiem For A Dream</a></i>'s
sordid display of <a title="addiction" href="/index.pl?node=addiction">addiction</a>
and <a title="Hamlet" href="/index.pl?node=Hamlet">Hamlet</a>'s
suicidal thoughts over the <a title="anguish"
href="/index.pl?node=anguish">anguish</a> of his mother's betrayal and
father's death are eerie in that they touch close to home about the
suffering of life. Other books which center on this conflict include <a
title="J.D. Salinger" href="/index.pl?node=J.D.%20Salinger">Salinger</a>'s
<i><a title="The Catcher In The Rye"
href="/index.pl?node=The%20Catcher%20In%20The%20Rye">The Catcher In
The Rye</a></i>, <a title="Christopher Marlowe"
href="/index.pl?node=Christopher%20Marlowe">Christopher Marlowe</a>'s <i><a
title="Faust" href="/index.pl?node=Faust">Faust</a></i>, <a
title="Virginia Woolf" href="/index.pl?node=Virginia%20Woolf">Virginia
Woolf</a>'s <i><a title="The Voyage Out"
href="/index.pl?node=The%20Voyage%20Out">The Voyage Out</a></i>, <a
title="Edith Wharton" href="/index.pl?node=Edith%20Wharton">Wharton</a>'s
<i><a title="Ethan Frome" href="/index.pl?node=Ethan%20Frome">Ethan
Frome</a></i> and <a title="John Updike"
href="/index.pl?node=John%20Updike">John Updike</a>'s <i><a
title="Rabbit, Run" href="/index.pl?node=Rabbit%2C%20Run">Rabbit, Run</a></i>.
</li>
<li><b>Man vs. Machine. </b>For some unseemly reason, once man has
conquered the things he cannot control, and has mastered his own self,
he is still unsatisfied. His <a title="stasis"
href="/index.pl?node=stasis">stasis</a> is immediately dropped so that
he may invent new things with which he can conflict. One can only
wonder if man is doomed to conflict by its very <a title="recidivism"
href="/index.pl?node=recidivism">recidivism</a>, or if in some sad <a
title="masochistic" href="/index.pl?node=masochistic">masochistic</a> <a
title="existentialism" href="/index.pl?node=existentialism">existentialism</a>,
the reason we spend so much time analyzing and writing about (and, in
this case, creating) our conflicts is that to be is to suffer. As the
wise <a title="Buddha" href="/index.pl?node=Buddha">Buddha</a> said,
"All is suffering." Still, it seems almost maddening to think that we
were not content with the struggles listed before, but have since added
machines to our list. The battle with the machines usually arises out
of a <a title="dystopia" href="/index.pl?node=dystopia">dystopia</a>
that occurs as appearance and reality are blurred. Of course, the first
real exploration of this conflict lay in a novel based on the first
invention of ourselves - <a title="Mary Shelley"
href="/index.pl?node=Mary%20Shelley">Mary Shelley</a>'s <i><a
title="Frankenstein" href="/index.pl?node=Frankenstein">Frankenstein</a></i>.
Some other excellent pieces on this include <a title="Arthur C. Clarke"
href="/index.pl?node=Arthur%20C.%20Clarke">Arthur C. Clarke</a>'s <i><a
title="2001: A Space Odyssey"
href="/index.pl?node=2001%3A%20A%20Space%20Odyssey">2001: A Space
Odyssey</a></i>, <a title="Philip K. Dick"
href="/index.pl?node=Philip%20K.%20Dick">Philip K. Dick</a>'s <i><a
title="Man, Android, and Machine"
href="/index.pl?node=Man%2C%20Android%2C%20and%20Machine">Man,
Android, and Machine</a></i>, and <a title="Kokaku Kidoutai"
href="/index.pl?node=Kokaku%20Kidoutai">Kokaku Kidoutai</a>'s 1995
film <i><a title="Ghost In The Shell"
href="/index.pl?node=Ghost%20In%20The%20Shell">Ghost In The Shell</a></i>.</li>
</ol>
<br>
<blockquote
cite="mid20050702180945.8406.qmail@web30803.mail.mud.yahoo.com"
type="cite">
<blockquote type="cite">
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap=""><!---->>>Why is there an eternal return of certain mythic themes in religion, such as messiah myths, flood
myths, creation myths, destruction myths, redemption
myths, and end of the world myths? What do these
recurring themes tell us about the workings of the
human mind and culture?<<
</pre>
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</blockquote>
</blockquote>
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