The Homecoming Conflicts

There are many different types of conflict in “The Homecoming.” While some are as simple as a Christmas cactus freezing overnight to something much more serious such as a father not coming home, it varies in a way that keeps the story stable throughout. The three conflicts I will be visiting today are all “man versus,” conflicts. In these conflicts, Clay-boy is exposed to different scenarios which lead him to his decisions. Clay-boy is the oldest of the Spencer siblings and is the more mature one of them all. He helps his mother out around the house and knows how to keep his temper down around his bickering siblings.
The first conflict is a “man versus nature,” in which Clay-boy gets… attacked by a deer. The start of this conflict is when Clay-boy sees a doe. Clay-boy begins to think about how he would’ve shot her if he brought a gun. All of a sudden the doe begins to freak out, ultimately landing herself into a deadfall. Clay-boy comes to help the doe get free until an albino buck sees him. The buck was said to be in a rut, and that’s why it began to charge at Clay-boy. In the whim of the moment, Clay-boy takes cover under a pine tree in which he was going to cut down. The buck begins to slam against the tree, and Clay-boy stays in
his place. He then remembers that albinos have sensitive sight, so he lights a match that he had in his pocket—lighting it and then shoving it towards the buck’s face. This startles the buck, causing it to stop momentarily. He helps the doe get free and begins to walk away.
The second conflict is based around one of Clay-boy’s siblings, Becky. Becky is a spunky 13-year-old girl who is quite a tomboy. She is quick to anger and has small fits of her own. She also is known to swear when she thinks no one is listening. Like every other 13-year-old, she believes that her life is extremely hard. In reality, she just finds the smallest things as unbearable. This is usually the cause of her irritation of her siblings. Becky also has an interest in the things that are seen as “men’s work,” as she would rather help Clay-boy help cut a tree than help her mother with washing dishes. Whenever she doesn’t get her way, she is very prissy and snotty.
Continuing on from the previous statements, Becky is out helping her siblings crack walnuts (although she was hanging around rather than helping.) She states that her siblings are ignorant for believing in Santa Claus, which causes a younger Spencer, Pattie-Cake, to cry.
Becky’s attitude rubs one of her brothers the wrong way and causes her to get shoved off of the porch into the snow. This makes her extremely frustrated as she makes her way back to the porch, ready to fight her brother. Clay-boy breaks the two of them up, which makes Becky think about how she wants to chop her toe off next summer so her siblings would be nicer. This is the solution to the conflict, surprisingly. Clay-boy making the two of them quiet solved the
problem.
Third conflict, Clay-boy versus himself. This is another conflict I’m going to discuss, but for now this is based around Clay-boy aspiring to be a writer. Clay-boy is extremely embarrassed about his dreams and tucks them away. There’s not much to this conflict. He finds himself as weird and disappointing at the fact he wants to be a writer. His father knew that he felt this way, and that’s why Clay-boy received a notebook and pencils for Christmas.
The last conflict is also a Clay-boy versus himself, but still very different. Throughout the story Clay-boy experiences different settings which make him think about things. One of those settings being a colored church. Throughout the ceremony at the church, he realizes how he hasn’t interacted with many black people in his life. It makes him disappointed in himself that he hadn’t opted to talk to many black people. He solves this by interacting throughout the ceremony.