As a result, "Eva must determine if she should complete the race despite the agony in her legs" is an example of an internal struggle. Because the conflict in this situation is between Eva's desire and Eva's feelings or body, the conflict arises from inside the character and is an internal conflict. An external conflict is one where both the cause and effect of the conflict are outside the character. For example, if I hit you with my fist and you hit me back, that would be an external conflict because the cause of the conflict (my punching you) is not within your character and the effect of the conflict (you hitting me back) is not within mine. Internal conflicts arise within the character itself while external conflicts involve elements outside the character. In the case of Eva, the internal conflict is whether or not to run the race when her legs hurt. The reason she can't simply get up and leave is because she doesn't want to let her partner down. She knows what will happen to him if she leaves so she must decide how to deal with her pain. Internal conflicts are common in novels and films because they help characters grow by making them face their weaknesses and fearfulnesses head-on. Without going into too much detail, Eva's character develops as she faces her fear of running out on her partner and struggles with whether or not to run the race despite her pain.