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
Each story of the collection might fall under a different category, but overall? Our vote is for "rebirth" because that's kind of what you go through if you treat the stories in the book like chapters in a novel.
The first few stories seem totally bleak and dark. Marriages fail; communities turn on old, loyal friends; people are abandoned and dreams are smashed into smithereens. The first half of the book is depressing.
But then the second half starts to surprise, with endings that—if not happy—at least begin to show a glimmer of hope. Endings like: a young girl who decides to walk away from an affair; a woman who appears like a totally useless victim but who ends up becoming a successful single mother and shopkeeper; and finally, an arranged marriage that produces the most heartening story of love and warmth in the entire book.
In our book, that movement from black-out depression to marital (albeit mundane) love feels a lot like getting reborn into happiness.