Context help

[cnguyen599]

Hi guys,

So I've been busy preparing plans for my english essay and bumped into prompts such as:

"There are rarely two clear cut sides in human conflict"
and
"There is always more then one sides to any conflict"

What should I discuss if I write an essay about this?
So far what I have in mind is a good and evil side, but I want to take it further.

[G-lain]

My context isn't about conflict, but maybe I can help a little.

'There are rarely two clear cut sides in human conflict'
Do you feel that this is true? You said good and evil, but surely you can agree that there's more to it? For starters, which side is to be considered good or evil? The 'evil' side considers themselves to be 'good', as do the 'good' side. Then there's also the gradient of individuals and groups in the middle, are they fighting together because of a common enemy? Do they have other motives? Did they choose to be a participant in the conflict or were they forced to participate?   
 
Take the Russian Civil War, there was a collective of armies known as the 'White Armies' trying to overthrow the Bolshevik Government. But very few, if any even, of these armies collaborated together, it's all very well to group them together under the label of 'White'. But does this label truly encompass their side? One of these white armies (Mensheviks iirc) wanted to start their own separate Socialist Republic, but then another one came and wiped them out.   

In this example, it's their motivations that distinguish them from one another, despite sharing a similar goal (Remove the Bolsheviks from power), they had their own separate motivations and aspirations. One wanted to see the system of Tsarism reinstated, whilst the other wanted to be in control themselves.  And so you see, there really is no clear 'White side'. Each participant in the Civil War had their own agendas they wished to see fulfilled, and each had their own methods of attempting to do this.

Hopefully that helps you.
 

 

[k0k0p0p]

Which text/s are you using?

I am also doing Encountering Conflict and using Paradise Road, though I did also study the Crucible. I would probably agree with the prompt and show how though initially there may seem to be two sides, upon further examination the motivations of key players within each side cause the emergence of more sides. (for the first prompt)
I would recommend looking at the different causes and motivations for your conflict but also looking at each persons motivations. For example, in the Crucible, the Church's motivation is to rid the town of the witches and uphold God, whereas Abigail's motivation is to become John Proctor's wife. These motives are obviously different despite them being on the same side.  Hence, even though there are supposedly two sides, those supporting God and those supporting Satan (from the church's view) there are actually more because there are numerous faces within each side.

Essentially, assess the intricacies of the motives of different personalities within each side and base your analysis on this. For it should be within each person's motives that the different faces within each side should become clear.

Hope this helps! (and makes some sense...)

[billyjackson768]

I'm not doing your context, thinking about it I really wish I was, it's such an interesting thing to think about one which would be easy for me to bring experience into too.... But anyways my immediate though is to think about the different ways in which each side views the conflict, they could have completely different perceptions about what the conflict is actually about. As in both sides may not even clearly see where the other is coming from. So you could say perhaps that there is no clear cut line as to he wants this she wants the opposite to this. Both sides may have completely different ideas about what they have come into conflict over.

The second one sounds much like the first to me. In fact exploration of how there are different sides to conflict and different ways of viewing disputes, using the second prompt. Could also be a large portion of a response to the first prompt if you so choose to view it that way.