Christopher Booker is a scholar who wrote that every story falls into one of seven basic plot structures: Overcoming the Monster, Rags to Riches, the Quest, Voyage and Return, Comedy, Tragedy, and Rebirth. Shmoop explores which of these structures fits this story like Cinderella’s slipper.
Plot Type : Rebirth
Overcoming the Monster
Overcoming the Monster has promise as a plot structure for In Cold Blood. The monster to be overcome could be madness, mortality, fear of death, the killers—you pick one. However, the last stage of OTM is The Thrilling Escape from Death, and Death of the Monster, and considering that we left Perry and Dick swinging, this isn't going to work.
It's a stretch, but you could maybe make Dewey the hero, and the killers the monsters. But like we said, it's a stretch. Wonder what Capote would say about this.
Next!
Rags to Riches
No. Maybe if this one were called "Riches to Bloody Corpses" or "Rags to Hanging Corpses" it would work.
The Quest
The Quest is about a Noble Goal. Perry and Dick have a goal, all right, but it isn't Noble.
Voyage and Return
Once again, the last stage of this one features a Thrilling Escape and Return, and the last act of In Cold Blood, well, doesn't. Nope, nope, nope.
Comedy
Aw, come on.
Tragedy
This is the closest of Booker's plot analyses to fit In Cold Blood, but we still don't think it works for the following reason: In Booker's analysis, the hero is "in some way incomplete or unfulfilled." In In Cold Blood, our anti-heroes are mentally ill.
Rebirth
This analysis ends with redemption. When the central figure is a hero, he's redeemed by a young woman or by a child. Neither Perry nor Dick is redeemed, and certainly not by a young woman. You'll have to wait for Russian Literature and Crime and Punishment for the best example of that.