View from the North 40: Literary analysis of conflict 101

On days we feel the world has too much conflict, it’s good to remember that literary-minded folks, who are rarely good for practical things, remind us that conflict is good because it inspires passion about ideas, people and things. A story without conflict is just a boring list of details — and then everybody dies.

The following news stories illustrate the literary nerds’ five types of conflict.

Man vs. Self

An 82-year-old man in India had his record-length fingernails, that he hadn’t trimmed for 66 years, cut off. This story is in the beginning a case of man vs. man because the man originall...