Carrie - Lesson 11 (Conflict)

Conflict in Carrie: In the "sworn testimony of Susan Snell, taken before The State Investigatory Board of Maine" the reader is treated to a classic underdog conflict. Sue Snell is being questioned before a nameless interrogator before the "White Commission". The interrogator is not listening to Sue, and righteous indignation ensues:

A. Why do you keep asking the same questions over and
over? I've told you twice already.
Q. We want to make sure the record is correct in every
A. You want to catch me in a lie, isn't that what you really mean? You don't think I'm telling the truth, do YOU?
Q. You say you came upon Carrie at
A. Will you answer me?
Q. -at 2:00 on the morning of May 28th. Is that correct?
A I'm not going to answer any more questions until you answer the one I just asked.
Q. Miss Snell, this body is empowered to cite you for contempt if you refuse to answer on any other grounds than Constitutional ones.
A. I don't care what you're empowered to do. I've lost someone I love. Go and throw me in jail. I don't care. I - go to hell. All of you, go to hell. You're trying to ... to ... I don't know, crucify me or something. Just lay off me!
(A short recess)

Whether or not the conflict in this passage is simplistic, I found this passage quite emotional. It might be simply because Sue is up against a nameless, faceless authority and she will not be heard. Her helplessness is heightened because the interrogator has been stripped of all humanity. Danger: in dehumanizing a character, there is always the possibility of cardboard characters and melodrama.

Exercise: Check your story for a passage in which your hero is up against an authority figure. Is the passage mined for the ultimate conflict. Is the antagonist "too human"?