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 : Voyage and Return
Anticipation Stage and 'Fall' into the Other World
The opening chapter, which really revels in the descriptions of the beauty and landscapes of East Africa, are not only the narrator's fall but the reader's fall into this new world.
Initial Fascination or Dream Stage
The narrator digs the Natives, and even says she has great affection for them, but admits that, even though they accept her as the final judge in their disputes, she doesn't really understand their ideas of justice and probably never will.
Frustration Stage
Coffee prices go down, the rains stop falling, and farming is not such a breeze anymore. Being broke is, to put it mildly, definitely cause for frustration. At least she has a sweet house and a handsome friend with benefits?
Nightmare Stage
Denys (Bixen's friend with benefits) dies, which is really a nightmare for the Baroness, who has already lost everything she owns. Now she has lost her best friend, and is truly alone in the world.
Thrilling Escape and Return
Well, it might not be thrilling, or even an escape, but the author does leave her farm in Africa to return to Europe, her home. She has been changed by Africa and all of the hard lessons she learned there, and probably worries that no one back home will understand.