I went north—I did not try to hide myself. When a god or a demon saw me, then I would die, but meanwhile I was no longer afraid.
My hunger for knowledge burned in me—there was so much that I could not understand. After a while, I knew that my belly was hungry. I could have hunted for my meat, but I did not hunt. It is known that the gods did not hunt as we do—they got their food from enchanted boxes and jars. Sometimes these are still found in the Dead Places—once, when I was a child and foolish, I opened such a jar and tasted it and found the food sweet. But my father found out and punished me for it strictly, for, often, that food is death. Now, though, I had long gone past what was forbidden, and I entered the likeliest towers, looking for the food of the gods. –“By the Waters of Babylon,” Stephen Vincent Benét
Which conflicts does the character face in this passage? Check all that apply.
character vs. society because he is breaking laws character vs. self because his fear is growing character vs. character because he faces demons character vs. character because he faces the gods in the towers character vs. nature because his hunger is driving him to take risks
Answer: A) character vs. society because he is breaking laws and E) character vs. nature because his hunger is driving him to take risks.
Explanation: in literature, a conflict is a struggle between opposite forces, usually between a character (the main character or a very important one) and himself (internal conflict), society or another character (external conflict). In the given excerpt from "By the Waters of Babylon" we can see an example of two types of external conflicts: character vs. society because he is breaking laws by entering the towers looking for the food of the gods (which was forbidden), and character vs. nature because is because his hunger that he is taking such risks.
He is a very clever man and knows how to get himself and his crew out of tight situations. However, his pride will often get in the way. One example of this is when he shouts at the cyclops which ends up angering Poseidon.
