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 : Overcoming The Monster
Anticipation Stage and Call
Griffin is the knight who has learned about the monster terrorizing villagers in a far-off land. That monster is called racism, the villagers are black people, and that village is the American South. Mighty Griffin has decided that he will strike down (or at least shed light on the problem of) racism by becoming a black man himself and sharing his experiences with the world. What could possibly go wrong?
Dream Stage
Everything is going great. Griffin darkens his skin, travels to the South, and finally makes his transition into a black man. Even his first few days of a black guy go great. He's comforted by other black people, he has a job as a shoe shiner, and he has some riveting intellectual discussions with black leaders at the YMCA. This whole defeating racism thing is going to be easy-peasy.
Frustration Stage
Griffin's first days were easy, but now that he's trying to get a job the frustration is setting in and he realizes that maybe being black isn't as easy as he thought. First, no one wants to hire him even though he's educated. Then he can't cash a check just because white people don't like him.
Not to mention that he has to walk miles in order to find a bathroom, endure hateful stares, and experience the approximately four kablillion other everyday examples of prejudice. It's so bad that he has to run away to one of his friends in order to keep it together. He thought that racism was a level one boss. Hah! He'll need to level up before he beats this baddie.
Nightmare Stage
It gets worse. We hear you asking, innocently, "But how could it get worse?" How about being forced to travel across state lines with guys who want you to approve of their raping little girls and women while also threatening you with lynching? End-your-faith-in-humanity-level horrific enough for you?
It just keeps going on like this for several days until Griffin has nightmares and decides that he has to end the experiment.
The Thrilling Escape from Death, and Death of the Monster
Normally at this point the hero miraculously escapes from the claws of the monster and kills it with some kind of mega-superpower. Then the hero gets the Princess and becomes king and everyone is happy. No such luck for Sir Griffin.
At first it seems like everything is going great, because he heads home to his "Princess" and gets to do all kinds of TV interviews. But it will take a lot more than a magazine article to kill this monster. Griffin's town threatens to castrate him, and his family has to move to Mexico for safety. We end the book with Griffin wondering if this monster will ever be beaten. Good question, Griff.