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 : Comedy
The Twilight Stage
It'd be a big understatement to say that the heroes of The Wanting Seed start out in a state of darkness and confusion. Not only do Beatrice-Joanna and Tristram live in a grim dystopian society, they also have no real sense of how their lives are shaped and constrained by corrupt politicos like Tristram's brother Derek. These two have a lot to learn about themselves and each other, but, even more importantly, they have a lot to discover about the self-serving powers that govern their world.
The Revelation Stage
After Tristram spends months in prison, all he wants is to reunite with Beatrice-Joanna, whether or not the child she's carrying is his. Eventually, his fear of punishment gives way to a fierce desire to resist the oppressive government, and, for him, Beatrice-Joanna and her unborn child become symbols of his newfound strength. From this point on, Tristram spends his energies trying to reunite his family, and it's this sense of higher purpose that allows him to see through the sham "war" so quickly.
For her part, Beatrice-Joanna learns something about herself once she's finally living with Derek. Maybe it's that she doesn't really trust her once-secret lover, maybe it's that she suspects his involvement in evil governmental goings-on, or maybe it's Maybeline. Either way, Beatrice-Joanna soon realizes that she wants to be with Tristram after all. When she sends a hopeful love letter to her husband without even knowing if he's still alive, she gives him a reason to live, and the determination he needs to survive the "war."
The Sort-of-Happy Ending (But Not Really) Stage
It's important to keep in mind that although The Wanting Seed is a comedy, it's also a satire, and Anthony Burgess messes with comedic conventions just as much as he takes aim at social vices and follies more generally. So, while Beatrice-Joanna and Tristram are reunited at the novel's end, the novel's final vision of the happy family isn't quite as cheery as it would be in a typical comedy.
Beatrice-Joanna and Tristram may have decided that they truly belong together, but their reunion also plays perfectly into the hands of the new (and scary) social order. The State may be celebrating nuclear families again, but that's because more babies equals more soldiers, and more soldiers equals more corpses to sell to the cannibalistic meat-canning factories. In the end, one thing's for sure: this ain't no Pride and Prejudice.