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
We know that "Overcoming the Monster" might seem like a weird pick when it comes to this totally realist story, but bear with us!
Anticipation Stage and 'Call'
When the story opens, Vladimir is just learning to understand time and his relationship to other beings in the world. He goes about being a fairly normal—if privileged and super-smart—kid. The countryside around his family's country estate is his playground. By the time he gets to his teen years, though, things are starting to get real: his father has spent some time in jail, and soon it's time for the family to leave their beloved home.
Dream Stage
The family's first stop from St. Petersburg is not too far away, in Yalta, and everything goes pretty smoothly for a while. Vladimir is upset he's missed the best part of butterfly hunting season, and for safety, his father pretends to be a doctor. He still gets letters from his girlfriend, and one day, he even sees a movie star rehearsing a scene. Life could be worse.
Frustration Stage
After the family has to leave Russia altogether, they head for Western Europe, with very little money or much support. Vladimir begins to understand: things are NOT going back to normal anytime soon. He's not just "homesick," he feels like an alien.
Nightmare Stage
Vladimir scraps along, constantly fighting feelings of not belonging, and being poor and misunderstood. Times are tough, other Russian émigrés are too wrapped up in their own lives to offer brotherhood. World War Two begins, making everything even worse. But just when it seems like Vladimir will travel the land, a stranger in a strange land, victim of time and circumstance, forever: he and his wife and child get a ticket to the States.
The Thrilling Escape from Death, and Death of the Monster
The little family flees to the States, where Vladimir is no longer a bitter victim of homesickness and political uprisings: in America, he will finally be allowed to be the writer he is destined to become.