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 falls under the shadow of the dark power.
Joel, our young hero, ends up in Skully's Landing, which is definitely a shady place. He doesn't really know what's going on there, but he knows that his father is nowhere to be seen and everyone refuses to talk about it. He tries writing a letter to his aunt asking for help, but someone steals his letter from the mailbox. It also seems that the letters he had gotten from his father before moving were actually written by cousin Randolph.
The threat recedes.
Joel settles into life at Skully's Landing, making friends with Zoo, the cook, and Idabel, the girl from up the road. He and Idabel go fishing and bathe in the creek. They have a fight and make up, and go on an adventure where Idabel has to save Joel from a snake, much to his embarrassment.
The threat returns and the hero is imprisoned in a state of living death.
When Joel finds out that his father is paralyzed as a result of Randolph having shot him many years ago, he knows it's time to hit the road. He and Idabel run away, but they get caught in a rainstorm and Joel falls ill.
This continues for a long time.
Joel wakes up from several weeks of fever dreams back at Skully's Landing, where Randolph, his stepmother, Amy, and Zoo have been taking care of him.
The Miraculous Redemption
This redemption is kind of perverse. Rather than being saved by a young woman, Joel sees a strange lady in his cousin's window (it might be Randolph dressed as a woman). Seeing no other choice, he realizes he can't escape and gives in to his new life at Skully's Landing, leaving his old self behind.
He also—bonus—subtly informs the reader that he has embraced being a gay man, by leaving his boyhood self at the door (so long, sucker) and following Randolph (in drag) upstairs.