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 : Rags to Riches
Initial wretchedness at home and the 'Call'
Our protagonist, the whisky priest, has been living in rags for many years. He's a wanted man, not for a specific crime, but simply for being a priest, which seems a little overkill if you ask us. At the start of the novel, the priest is close to escaping the threat on a boat, but a child begging for help for his dying mother pulls the priest back into danger.
Out into the world, initial success
The initial successes aren't very successful. The dying woman really didn't need him. People he meets pester him to hear their confessions even though he's exhausted from travel. With the lieutenant taking and murdering hostages, even those closest to the priest don't want him around. He decides to abandon them and escape over the mountains. They'll have to do without the Church. No God for you!
The central crisis
Typically everything goes wrong in this stage, but for the priest, the crisis he experiences isn't being captured, but escaping. He's able to return to a life of comfort and wealth, and with this seemingly positive change, his worst character traits reappear. He realizes that he's not so great a person here. Well, he's a less than stellar individual anywhere, but he's at least a better priest when the threat of martyrdom stares at him from behind a gun.
Independence and the final ordeal
The priest returns to danger land knowing he won't ever escape and will instead soon be caught. He's even a little cheerful, having finally found his purpose. The only question that remains is how he'll face death. Will he act triumphantly like a martyr in a children's saint book or more like the coward he believes himself to be?
Final union, completion, and fulfillment
The priest is executed. We see the scene from a distance, so how he faced death remains unclear. One can only hope that the priest found heavenly riches.