K is for Killer

K Is for Killer

Conflict is an integral part of a literary work. Many authors use conflict as a technique to help the reader feel exactly what the character is going through in he/she’s internal battles and struggles. Both of the fictional pieces, “The Fifth Child” by Doris Lessing and “’N’ Is For Noose” by Sue Grafton, contain significant conflicts between characters which are brought out through the use of many scenarios within the novels.

The novel, “The Fifth Child” takes place in London during the late 1960’s. David and Harriet Lovatt are a happily married couple who reside with their four beautiful children in an enormous home on the grassy outskirts of town. The Lovatt’s are a close-knit family until the abnormal pregnancy and birth of a fifth child, Benjamin. Ben is a strong, loud, violent toddler with an appalling appetite. Besides his actions, Ben is also very different looking compared to the rest of the Lovatt children. Ben’s behavior and attitude begin to ruin the family to the point where each of the children are sent off to live with relatives and Harriet’s husband abandons her. Harriet is stuck with the internal conflict of choosing between her newest son and her husband and other 4 children. Harriet decides to get the best of both worlds by sending Ben off to a doctor to help control and correct his problems, so her family can return home and feel safe once again. Sending away her own flesh and blood starts eating at Harriet to the point where she takes Ben back home. She was astonished to find out that Ben had not gotten any better; he had actually gotten worse. Ben was now fascinated with the local town gang and was involved in many robberies, rapes and violent acts. Harriet feels like a failure as her attempt to regain her “perfect family” was destroyed.

The literary work “‘N’ is for Noose” took place during the late 1980’s in Southern California. Selma Newquist, a run-down widow, hired a private investigator named Kinsey Millhone to find out the reasons behind the sudden death of her late husband Tom. Selma felt that something had been eating away at Tom right before his death, and she was nosey to find out what exactly it was so she could be at rest with herself.