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
A young hero or heroine falls under the shadow of the dark power.
This is a loose definition, since Dwight's just a mean little man instead of a "dark power," but he does have control over Jack and he does make his life miserable. (Besides, we're pretty sure real dark powers don't smoke Camels.) Jack fights back, but he's wee and frightened and can't really get away.
For a while, all may seem to go reasonably well. The threat may even seem to have receded.
It doesn't so much recede as enter a dull, steady routine that Jack can endure. He still hates Dwight and wants to get away from him, but he can handle the slings and arrows pretty darn well.
But eventually it approaches again in full force until the hero or heroine is seen imprisoned in the state of living death.
Yeah, this kind of blends into the last one. Jack pretty much sees life in Dwight's House as a living death, and…
This continues for a long time. When it seems that the dark power has completely triumphed…
Jack can't get away until his mom wakes up to who and what Dwight is. Apparently, that involves Jack almost losing a finger, then mom watching as Dwight knocks him down. It probably should have happened a lot earlier, but mom's got her own problems.
But finally comes the miraculous redemption: either, where the imprisoned figure is a heroine; or, where it is the hero, by a Young Woman or a Child.
It's pretty miraculous to Jack, but pretty sensible in a lot of ways. Beating on mom's kid? Mom's going to take the kid away! And with a simple car ride, Jack gets clear of the dark Schlitz-drinking power, free to start his life anew.