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 : None
Neither of our two stories in this case fits the template for a Booker plot. "Seymour: an Introduction" is, as we know, far from a typically structured story. And while we can take a look at "Roof Beam" through a classical plot analysis, we find that it doesn't really work as a Booker plot. It is neither tragedy nor comedy in its structure (though arguably combines tonal elements of each genre), and lacks the epic grandeur of plots like "The Quest" or "Rebirth." It is indeed a brilliantly crafted story (think about structured way in which important narrative details are revealed, or the crafty narrative devices like the diary or the photos on the wall), but not a standard one.