Question

Hikers find themselves lost in the desert on a particularly hot day. Does the previous sentence contain an external conflict or an internal conflict.

Answer 1

Answer:

The sentence contains an external conflict.

Explanation:

We can define conflict as a struggle between two opposing forces. In literature, some common types of conflict are: character vs self, character vs society, and character vs nature.

Conflicts can also be external or internal. External conflicts take place between the character and an outside force - another person, society, nature, financial difficulties etc. On the other hand, an internal conflict happens in the character's mind, often because of the character's self - difficulty to change or to adapt, stress, fear, anger etc.

The sentence we are analyzing here portrays an external conflict, since the characters (hikers) face an outside force (the desert on a hot day). The conflict here is, more precisely, man vs nature. These people can die due to dehydration during the day. They can also die from the cold at night. They can run into wild and poisonous animals, such as rattle snakes.