Belonging to a World of Conflict Saayeh Siahmakoun College

The plot of most novels is said to have layers which generally fall in the structure of rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. These layers are all parts that centralize around a type of conflict, such as individual versus self or individual versus society. Literature that is focused on conflict, however, does not restrain itself from extending beyond the generic types of conflict. Similarly, in the novels The Farming of Bones by Edwidge Danticat and Eureka Street: A Novel of Ireland Like No Other by Robert McLiam Wilson, both authors implement the conflict type that focuses on the society versus the individual, wherein the society is suppressing its individuals. Danticat examines the ruinous effects of the Parsley Massacre on the narrator, Amabelle Dsir, through descriptions of the nature of Amabelle’s pre and post massacre life; comparably, Wilson exhibits the eye-opening disruption the bombing at Fountain Street on the co-protagonist, Chuckie Lurgan, by providing Chuckie’s immediate reaction to the events. In order to illustrate effects of major conflicts that society imposes on characters, Danticat and Wilson demonstrate the character’s renewed outlook on life, focusing on their sense of belonging.

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