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 :
Anticipation Stage and "Fall" into the Other World
This tale is a sort of twisty version of voyage and return, since it's being related to us as a memoir. The anticipation stage comes out of order for us as readers, but know this: Campbell starts out his journey as kind of a naïve guy dazzled by the opportunity to be a spy. He's already used to playing at falling into other worlds, since he's a playwright married to a beautiful actress. Now's his chance to be the star.
Initial Fascination or Dream Stage
Campbell sure does love being a spy delivering secret codes through Nazi propaganda. Maybe he likes it a little too much. After all, he doesn't have to be so creative and so enthusiastic in his hate speech, right? We know Campbell's conflicted about all this, because as fun as it is to play the bad guy, nobody else thinks it's a joke.
Frustration Stage
Nothing's more frustrating than people thinking you're somebody you're not. Eventually Campbell is asked to do more and more morally corrupt things. One time, he's even told to write a play that messes with history: it's about a Jewish ghetto in Warsaw that was attacked by German soldiers. The musical he's supposed to write about it flips the story to make it seem like the Germans were heroes. The musical never gets written, because the war ends first, but Campbell knows he would have done it. This knowledge haunts him.
Nightmare Stage
This stage lasts a long, long time. It all starts when Campbell's wife Helga is captured in Russia. Bad news bears. Without Helga, life becomes meaningless. Campbell also has to keep his identity a secret everywhere he goes; he can trust almost no one. Actually, scratch that: he can trust no one. It turns out that just about every last thing he loves turns out to be fake.
Thrilling Escape and Return
So it turns out that you can't go home again: if what you've done is nightmarish enough, the nightmare stays with you. Every close call and narrow getaway Campbell experiences leaves him a little more broken. He tries a final escape from himself by giving up and going to jail, but it doesn't work because he's created his own mental hell.