Examples

Read the introductory paragraph below and try to establish a formula for how its organization:

Throughout our lives, we are faced with inner conflict. These conflicts help us to become stronger people. German writer and statesman, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe once said, “Two souls, alas, are housed within my breast, And each will wrestle for the mastery there.” In other words, in each of us there is a constant internal struggle between two forces. Eventually, one force will dominate the other. According to Erik Erikson, we face conflicts at every stage of our lives. Erikson developed the Stages of Psychosocial Development, which show the conflicts humans face throughout their lives, as well as two possible outcomes that depend on whether the person successfully deals with the conflict or not. Two works of literature in which characters display inner conflict concerning their identity, demonstrating the fifth stage in Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development, are The Color of Water by James McBride and To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. In The Color of Water James McBride struggles with knowing his true ethnicity. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Jem struggles with the choice to follow in his father’s footsteps or be like society. McBride and Lee explore the idea that conflict could lead to maturity using setting and inner conflict to examine the characterization of James McBride and Jem.

In The Color of Water, James McBride, being the son of a white mother and black father, was always confused about knowing his true race, thus he struggles throughout his teenage years to determine the importance of race in his identity. James, often wondering about his ethnicity, asks his mother, “Am I black or white?” (McBride 92). His mother, who never speaks about their race, responds, “You’re a human being. Educate yourself or you’ll be a nobody!” (McBride 92). James describes race in the following quote as, “The question of race was like the power of the moon in my house. It’s what made the river flow, the ocean swell, and the tide rise, but it was a silent power, intractable, and indomitable, indisputable, and thus completely ignorable” (McBride 94). This quote shows the effect “the question of race” had on his family, and explains how it kept everything in his household running. James further explains that his siblings regularly instilled a notion of black power within him, one he fully embraced. James says, “My siblings marched around the house reciting poetry from the Last Poets, a sort of rap group who recited in-your-face poetry with conga and fascinating vocal lines serving as a musical backdrop…” (McBride 25). Nonetheless, he felt society did not always embrace him, saying, “…despite the racist attitudes of many of our teachers, who were happy to knock our 95 test scores down to 85’s and 80’s over the most trivial mistakes” (McBride 89). In spite of this, James became embarrassed of being seen with his white mother explaining, “I had reached a point where I was ashamed of her and didn’t want the world to see my white mother. When I went out with my friends, I’d avoid telling her where we were playing because I didn’t want her coming to the park to fetch me” (McBride 100). As James matures, he learns about his true identity and as being the son of an interracial couple, he begins to embrace his race and says, “Now, as a grown man, I feel privileged to have come from two worlds. My view of the world is not merely that of a black man but that of a black man with something of a Jewish soul” (McBride 103). James’ identity has evolved to the point where he feels privileged rather than ashamed of his ethnicity.

Catherine Kien