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 : The Quest
The Quest
The Call
Deborah's parents drop her off at a mental hospital because she's attempted suicide. Her emotional distance from the outside world is so extreme that her parents have finally sought help. Deborah is okay with being at the hospital, because she feels free finally to embrace her brand of crazy.
Since she was five, Deborah's been living part-time in an imaginary world called Yr, where she can hang out with gods and goddesses all day. At the hospital, Dr. Fried, a talented psychotherapist, helps Deborah commit to working on getting healthy—potentially giving up the Yr to embrace the possibilities of the real world.
The Journey
Deborah soon discovers how hard deep psychotherapy can be. Dr. Fried helps her navigate the landmines of her past, which include a traumatic operation she had when she was five to remove a tumor from her urethra, a summer camp filled with prejudice against Jews like her, an anti-Semitic neighborhood, and a family with unrealistic expectations.
Deborah hates lies, and she's been lied to a lot. The gods in Yr feed this fear by punishing her for trusting people in the real world. Deborah wants to trust Dr. Fried, though; she can tell the doctor is honest and wants to help her.
Yr makes Deborah's ability to function in reality a challenge and a half. Every time Deborah makes a little progress and reveals past secrets, Yr throws her into the Pit for punishment and gives her terrible advice.
Arrival and Frustration
Deborah learns about other patients from the hospital who have ventured out into the world. Sometimes they come back to the hospital, but she learns it's at least possible to get out, and it's worth fighting for. She decides to fight even harder against her illness, but Yr fights back from inside of her.
The worlds collide, and Deborah has a terrible meltdown. She goes blind temporarily and has an epic freak-out that can only be tamed by restraints. She wonders if the real world is worth all this fighting and exhaustion.
The Final Ordeals
Deborah decides to keep fighting to be successful in the outside world. She's kept in good spirits by Dr. Friend and Carla, a fellow patient who's also trying to get out of the hospital. Deborah works hard to get her GED, and she moves out into a rented room near the hospital so she can still attend therapy sessions with Dr. Fried.
Deborah passes her GED with flying colors and celebrates by walking the ground at a local high school. This only reminds her, however, of how different she still is from these "normal" kids, and Yr's voices shout in her head about how she'll never know normalcy or romantic love. Deborah walks to the hospital and gets there just in time, as Yr's Pit crashes in on her and tries to suck her away from the real world one last time.
The Goal
Deborah wakes up from her last epic battle between Yr and Earth. She's still in the mental hospital, in restraints, but she makes a plan. She's going out into the world again. She'll continue to fight for her mental health, and she will live in the real world.