Conflicts – The Necessary Ripples in Life

Posted on October 13, 2019 by the Editor

By Kanchana Swarnalatha Anumula. Kanchana, 26, is a freelance writer and stay-at-home mum. She lives in Chennai, India. Please read her article and leave your thoughts and comments below.

Let me ask you all a few questions.

Have you ever been in a scenario where everything is just perfect?

Can you think of events in your life where there has been only happiness, joy, peace and tons of laughter?

Is it possible for you and your partner or sibling or any friend to think alike?

Have you never faced conflicts?

If your answer is yes for any of the above-mentioned questions, then you have been living in a utopian world, which according to me is a fragment of fiction and should stop reading this piece of article right here. If your answer is no, then you should proceed further and read till the end because you know how the world functions.

Veronica Roth, the author of the dystopian novel Divergent once said, “If there’s no conflict, there are no stories worth telling – or reading” and I cannot disagree with her.

Read further to know why I agree with the author.

I want you to imagine this scenario.

We all loved the Harry Potter series and still love it. The kids of 90s and 00s grew up reading the books and watching the movie series. We all loved the magical world, the three teenagers and of course the conflict between the three protagonists, Harry, Ron, Hermione and the bad guy Voldemort. Now would you all have shown the same interest if there was no conflict between the above-mentioned characters? Would you all have loved the book if the author J.K.Rowling had written a plain story where Voldemort is not the bad guy nor he kills Harry’s parents which then would have led to a situation where there would have been no necessity for conflicts between the protagonists and the antagonist. Basically, the story would have been just about a world where magic exists and is also taught to students in a school that resembles a medieval palace. Hogwarts would have been a utopian society and a great lullaby for readers.

The same applies to every book we have read. We cannot encounter a book or story which does not have a conflict or in other terms, is a utopia.

Why should I confine this topic just to novels and stories?

Let me take it further and relate the concept of conflict with real life and tell you why I agree with Ms. Roth that conflict is required for stories that are worth telling.

We, humans, thrive on conflicts.

You might think, “What’s wrong with this woman?”

But, yes! that’s the truth!

Why am I saying so?

The answer is simple. Because we all know no two humans can think alike. We do not have the same set of characteristics nor mannerisms. I am not like you nor you are like me. I do not think like you nor you can think like me. We are not perfect, to be precise.

Have you ever come across a person who thinks just like you? There is a very slim possibility for that. If we meet such people, then there would be very less spice in life. Less spice in life? What’s that?

You all have heard about the phrase, difference of opinions. Why am I mentioning this here? Because we are all opinionated. We hold our own opinions and stay strong on it. So, when people with different opinions meet and try to discuss something, difference of opinions will arise which in turn would lead to conflicts.

Life is all about experiences. These experiences are made up of varied emotions. We might showcase these emotions at various stages of life. And such emotional experiences can cause some friction in our otherwise smooth life and create conflicts.

So, whatever happens in real life, we try to relate it to the characters and situations we read and come across in books and stories. If the story has a utopian setting and the characters are all sugar coated and perfect, we will never be able to relate to the characters nor the story. That book might lie untouched and gather only dust.

You might ask me this question.

“So, you mean to say that only dystopian settings work in real and reel life? You want to say that our lives are built on conflicts?

I am not saying that we wait for conflicts to arrive at our doorstep with bated breath nor we build our lives based on conflicts.

Life can never be linear. Certain ripples will always affect our otherwise perfect lives, but in the end, there would also be solutions for the same. Such solutions are called happy endings in stories. The stories might start on a wrong note but will end in the right way. Our lives also function the same way.

So, do you think when I say conflicts, it is only blood, violence, revenge, murders and other hateful crimes? It is a big NO.

We all have grown up watching musicals. Such movies are supposed to be happy and cheerful ones. But if you watch keenly and try to understand the underlying emotions of the characters, you might notice there are some conflicts.

Conflicts could mean different things for different people. For example, a person fighting his own inner battles is having a conflict. A person who is sad about seeing a puppy starve is having a conflict. A quick minute of sadness for even a minuscule thing is a ripple caused in your life.

What do I intend to say through this article?

Conflicts are everywhere. History would have never been made if there were no problems and we would not have stories of the past to pass on to the present.

To sum it up, I can say that life is not perfect. This world is not perfect and hence, the stories we narrate can also not be perfect. But in a dystopian world or character, you can always find some portion of perfection or utopian values. As Margaret Atwood states “within every dystopia, there’s a little utopia.”

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37 comments on “Conflicts – The Necessary Ripples in Life”

  1. Revathi Anumula on

    The writer discussed about the reality of life in a nice way. I agree with this. If there is no conflict in our life then the life becomes uninteresting..life is a mixture of sorrows and happiness. life becomes interesting when it has conflicts now and then.

    Reply
      • Arvind Krishnan on

        Conflicts are the most important plot element, in life as well as a well narrated story to keep things moving forward. This article is has a very interested take on providing a positive perspective on conflicts and shows that they are not actually a bad thing to deal with, once in a while. A very interesting read. Looking forward to seeing more from the author.

        Reply
  2. Vijayalakahmi on

    Very true. There can never be perfect world and perfect person. And living with different qualities of conflicting people makes world interesting

    Reply
  3. Nithya on

    This is really true…all your blogs and writings are very nice and out of heart…conflicts need to be there in a healthy way so that there will be better understanding of things and people 🙂

    Reply
  4. Sadasivam ramesh on

    The blogger has by her searching question and answers drives home the point,conflict is a necessity of life.Her deep knowledge is to be acknowledged and appreciated.l fully agree with the author that there can never exists a race without conflict,as it is the truth.The nature has imbeded in everything this duality.congrats and look forward to more understanding and wisdom about various concepts.

    Reply
    • B.Raghuram on

      Conflict is Inevitable in everyday’s life . Life is not interesting unless we experience some form of conflict either Internal or external . Internal conflict associates with mix of emotions of people’s experience which may lead to misunderstanding on certain subjects . Further this Internal conflict May also lead to external conflict which involves more people and affects the surroundings . I feel the conflicts should be meaningful and finally it can be resolved if Each one accepts the views of the other . What Kanchana Swarnalatha mentioned in this article is absolutely true and I fully agree with her .

      Reply
  5. Tejasri on

    This article seriously made my day… I’m a new mom and had various thoughts and struggles running in my head and was quiet depressed and didn’t know where to start and where to end and this article gave me a clear vision on how to move on with the life. Yes, conflicts do occur and challenges do occur in life. It’s better to face and give a damn rather than sitting and thinking of what has happened. Thanks alot for this beautiful article Swarna. So, inspiring and please do continue this good work. Sometimes articles like this helps rather than searching for a companion to share your feelings. I just love it ☺️

    Reply
  6. Adhi on

    Good read. I agree with the author. Without conflicts life will be boring. Resolving conflicts make life interesting. Humans thrive in solving conflicts.

    Reply
  7. Madhavi on

    I totally agree with What you have Mentioned In the article .
    There is no SPICE in life without Conflicts . We are all different and have different thoughts and opinions and Every person is different from one another . Life can’t be perfect and these conflicts complete our life
    I loved the article written by you !
    The article was FULLY RELATABLE to our life and The way you expressed it was NICE !
    Keep up the great writing

    Reply
  9. Sravani Raghuran on

    Yup. Totally agree 100% with the author. I think that conflicts and challenges are beautiful experiences that shape us into a stronger individuals. I don’t think we would ever be able to rejoice and enjoy our happiest of moments if we didn’t know what pain or difficulty felt like.
    Essence of living is truly in going on a rollercoaster of all elements of life. Beautifully written article !! 👍

    Reply
  12. Venkata subramanian. Y k on

    The Writer of reality. Brilliantly explained the reality. Conflict is all time available. But life is all about experience and mixed emotions.

    Reply
  13. Sanjana on

    The article is very true. I firmly believe that there is no gain in life without pain , thus conflicts in life help you become a better person. The author has beautifully explained this in her article.

    Reply

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