Person VS. Self
The inner conflict
‘Inner Conflict’
Defintion:- emotional disturbance resulting from a clash of opposing impulses
or from an inability to reconcile contradictions with realist or moral
considerations, a fight or struggle "selves" within one-self. Inner gesture a
motion expressing a certain emotion.
• It is one of the most base conflicts of the hero, when they must go through
an emotional struggle that tests their courage and will-power.
• It is something that may influence the actions of the hero throughout the
story or even hold them back in some way from doing something they feel
or know they must do. Eventually they realise that only they can overcome
this conflict.
• It is important to the story because it shows character development. It
shows that the character is human; with human flaws, fears and problems
that they must overcome to complete their quest.
My First Idea of the Different Kinds of
Inner ‘Self’
• True Self
The ‘true’ self that the reluctant hero must become by the end of the
quest. They may struggle to do the right thing, or find it hard to accept or
understand the weight of their responsibility.
• False/Negative Self
The self that is depicted as the negative or anti- of the hero because they
manifest the hero’s negative qualities. This self may show through
experiences of temptation, guilt, fear or regret.
• Influenced/Other Self
Person is conflicted with a self governed by law, duty or other condition
that conflicts with their own morality.
Marcel Mauss’s Categories of Self
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Mask (Image)
Role (Purpose or Reason)
Person (Other Self)
Name (Identity/Individuality)
Moral/Sacred (Good and/or Bad)
Conscience (Sentience/Instinct
The Mask (Self-Image)
Batman – Bruce Wayne
• Bruce Wayne’s inner conflicts are his
fears of darkness and corrupted
power, he dons the mask, cape and
suit of Batman to become a symbol
of justice, his image is his symbol.
• He embraces his fear, literally, by
becoming the symbol of his fear.
L.A.Noire – Cole Phelps
• Cole is conflicted between
maintaining his public image as a
confident and professional
detective trying to get a
promotion while wanting to do
what is right.
The Role (Self-Purpose)
Avatar: The Last Airbender - Aang
• Aang’s inner conflict is having to accept
his destiny to become the Avatar and
find a way to defeat the Fire Lord to
Spec Op: The Line - Walker
restore balance to the world.
• Walker’s inner conflicts range from
• To become the Avatar, he first accepts
PTSD to morality, however his most
that it is his destiny and he masters the
prominent conflict is his struggle for
four elements (Air, Fire, Earth and
purpose.
Water) as well as the avatar state.
Person (The Other-Self)
Bleach – Ichigo
•
Ichigo is conflicted by a darker and
seemingly much stronger self that
manifests as almost an entirely different
being to Ichigo.
The Legend of Zelda - Link
•
Link enters a fight with an enemy that
looks identical and moves incredibly
similarly to Link. This enemy, although
technically a different being, can be
described as Link’s dark self and thus a
part of him.
Name (Self as Individual)
Punk’s Not Dead – Player
•
Memento – Leonard
•
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His personal conflict is dealing with shortterm memory loss; a mental illness.
He deals with this conflict by tattooing on
himself hints, phrases and instructions to
help him to solve a case.
•
This probably would be associated more
with Person vs Society than Person vs Self,
although the main character LOOKS like
every other NPC sprite, so you could say
that they are struggling to appear as an
individual amongst a group of ‘PunkRockers’.
The only way you can tell who you’re
playing as is to know that you’re the pink
guy, kicking and punching, that can
actually be controlled by you.
The Moral/Sacred (Good/Bad Self)
Les Miserables – Javert
•
His personal conflict arises when he feels
torn between his duty to uphold the law
and his humanity towards the man who
saved his life but to whom he swore to
hunt down and arrest.
Dante’s Inferno – Dante
•
•
Dante’s inner conflicts surface while he is
slashing his way through the hordes of the
nine circles of hell. He’s forced to question
his deeds in life as he is now being
accused of committing mass sin.
He fights to save his wife, Beatrice and to
redeem himself. He accepts his sins and
now journeys to right his wrongs.
Conscience (Self-Aware)
Attack on Titan – Eren Jaeger
•
Torn by his burning desire to kill all titans
and survive, Eren’s inner conflict (much
like most of the other main characters) is
the petrifying fear of the titans, leading
the characters to struggle to do anything.
Simply ‘being alive’ is a conflict for any
character in this Manga series.
Dark Souls – Player
•
Arguably, this could be considered more
about Role than Conscience, however
they are both common aspects of Dark
Souls. You are the chosen Undead; a
human marked with the Dark Sign, cursed
to live eternally until you lose the
willpower or purpose to do anything and
thus become hollow.