Metaphors Help Us Understand Conflicts - Essay Example

The paper "Metaphors Help Us Understand Conflicts" is a wonderful example of an essay on humanitarian. Frank’s approach toward conflict is very forceful. He tries to force his perspectives on to the other person’s mind, hereReno, and does not want to clarify why he wants something to be done a certain way, e.g. when he says, “Why can’t he just listen and do what I tell him?” He leaves no room for discussions and clarifications and he does not want to confront resistance. This forcing attitude does not leave any space for communication nor does Frank want to come on a one-to-one confrontation with the other person, which is evident when he says, “I can’t talk with him”. He believes in a wait-and-see policy regarding resolution. 

Reno, contrarily, though wants to communicate with Frank but wants Frank to start the communication, like when he says, “I wish he would confront me.” He does not clear himself when he refuses something Frank says. Also, he thinks he knows everything already, e.g. when he says, “I know how to be a paralegal”, and needs no lessons. That is why he becomes irritated when Frank tries to explain something to him regarding office work.

This conflict is best described by the metaphor “conflict as competition”. Both the individuals are trying to win the situation, not solve it. This is not a very efficient metaphor.
Metaphors can be used to understand conflict since we come to know about what the conflicting parties are trying to come up with (Min, 2005). For instance, the metaphor “conflict as the problem” means that the parties are trying to look out for a solution; while, the metaphor “conflict as a lesson” means that the parties are trying to get a lesson from the conflicting situation (Lenski, 2007). This way, metaphors help us understand conflicts. Read More