20 Master Plots (22 page)

9. The sides are usually clarified by the moral issues involved.

10. The second dramatic phase reverses the protagonist's descent on the power curve through a reversal of fortune.

11. The antagonist is often aware of the protagonist's empowerment.

12. The protagonist often reaches a point of parity on the power curve before a challenge is possible.

13. The third dramatic phase deals with the final confrontation between rivals.

14. After resolution, the protagonist restores order for himself and his world.

T
he underdog plot is a form of rivalry plot (so you should read chapter fourteen before reading this), but it is distinct enough to be a separate category. The premise for rivalry is parity: the matched strengths of protagonist and antagonist. But in the underdog plot, the strengths aren't equally matched. The protagonist is at a disadvantage and is faced with overwhelming odds.

This plot is near and dear to our hearts because it represents the ability of the one over the many, the small over the large, the weak over the powerful, the "stupid" over the "smart."

The rivalry between Nurse Ratched and McMurphy in
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
is a classic example of the underdog plot. McMurphy struggles with a system against which he has no chance. A lovable rebel, McMurphy would rather fake being crazy than do hard time at a work farm. At the mental institution he meets the embodiment of everything inhumane and unfeeling: Nurse Ratched. Theirs is a test of wills. The reader recognizes the system in Nurse Ratched and, although we would probably detest McMurphy in person, we root for him because he's dedicated to subverting a system that squelches individuality and creativity. It is a fight we want fought.

We also side with Joan of Arc as she struggles against the

hypocrisy of the Church. She is a hero because of her canny ability to probe the problems of life and to formulate independent ethical values, all of which alienate her from mainstream society. And then there are less complicated, transparent underdogs like Rocky Balboa, the man who beats the impossible odds. Rocky isn't very smart (by his own admission), but he has tenacity and a certain native shrewdness. He's also virtuous, and when he takes on the boxing establishment with all its glitter and hype, we find ourselves rooting for him. The audience's connection to the protagonist in the underdog plot is much more visceral than in the rivalry plot. We don't identify with Judah Ben-Hur as strongly as we identify with the poor slob Rocky. Why not? Because Ben-Hur is on a higher emotional and intellectual plane than most of us. We respect what he represents, but he isn't really
one of us.
Rocky is. He's heroic in ways we can
feel.
Most of us come up against some kind of oppression that we feel we have no chance of beating. But the underdog actually
does
beat his oppressor.

If you want your reader to feel empathy for your protagonist, make sure that her emotional and/or intellectual plane is equal to or lower than the reader's. If your reader feels your protagonist is superior, he won't make the psychic connection. Part of this is vicarious; the reader wants your hero to be like
him,
at least symbolically. She's no great genius, she's a common person — someone your reader can relate to.

One of the world's best-known tales,
Cinderella,
is a good example of the underdog plot. It was first written down in China during the ninth century. It circulated the world for centuries, making its appearance in the West most notably in the collections of Charles Perrault and the Brothers Grimm. I'm using the Grimms' version, called
Aschenputtel.

While most of us know the story, we know the sanitized version created by Disney, who invented the fairy godmother. Disney's version, while endearing and charming, doesn't capture the true spirit of the tale, which has to do with Cinderella's rivalry with her stepsisters, not her romance with the prince.

The structure of
Cinderella,
like most fairy tales, divides itself clearly into three phases, each of which typifies the primary movements of the plot.

In the first dramatic phase, Cinderella, an only child of a rich couple, kneels beside her mother's deathbed. Typically, the story begins at the point of interruption in the protagonist's life, so we can glimpse her life
before
the contest between protagonist and antagonist begins. In this case, the mother's death causes a dramatic, irreparable change in Cinderella's life. Her mother's last words are advice: "Dear child, be good and pious, and then the good God will always protect you, and I will look down on you from heaven and be near you." She has her instructions; her mother will protect her as long as she remains virtuous.

Six months later, Cinderella's father remarries a woman with two beautiful daughters (unlike Disney's three uglies) who are the spiritual opposite of the humble and self-effacing Cinderella: They are vain, selfish, lazy and cruel—a grab bag of the seven deadly sins. They're the mirror reflection of Cinderella.

The nature of the competition isn't obvious in Disney's version, but it is. in Grimms'. Although Cinderella possesses great beauty, so do her stepsisters. Their ugliness is strictly internal. Since all are young women of a marriageable age, their ambition is to marry as well as possible. (Obviously this happened in the days before raised feminist consciousness.) To avoid direct competition, the stepsisters actively abuse Cinderella.

Once the rivalry begins in the first dramatic phase, the antagonists have the upper hand. An important attribute of the underdog is disempowerment. The protagonist is overwhelmed by the power of the antagonists. Cinderella is made to work from dawn until dusk carrying water, lighting fires, cooking and washing. The sisters taunt Cinderella by throwing peas and lentils into the ashes of the kitchen hearth and making her pick them out.

This descending action represents the new status quo. The protagonist now finds herself in a lower, suppressed state, under the rule of the antagonists. But the nature of the protagonist is to resist. Thus, the next important action is to do something that would reverse the descending action.

In the case of Cinderella, this happens when the father (who is typical of fathers in fairy tales—he has no real presence or authority—goes to a fair and asks each of the three daughters what they would like as a present. The first sister wants beautiful clothes, the second wants pearls and jewels, and Cinderella, still modest and humble, asks for "the first branch which knocks against your hat on your way home."

The girls get their requests, and Cinderella takes the hazel branch her father has brought back for her and plants it on her mother's grave, watering it with her tears. The branch grows into a tree, and a little white bird (presumably the spirit of her mother) comes to roost in the tree. This bird is no ordinary bird; it grants Cinderella's every wish. Without either strength or allies, Cinderella couldn't compete with her stepsisters, but now she is empowered by both. She is ready to do battle.

The second dramatic phase begins when the empowered protagonist is in the position to challenge her rival and reverse the descending force in the first dramatic phase.

The King, who has a son also of marriageable age, invites the kingdom to a three-day festival, during which his son can pick from the local crop.

The stepsisters make plans to attend, forcing Cinderella to comb their hair, brush their shoes and so on. Cinderella ventures to ask if she can go and is met with derision: "You go, Cinderella! Covered in dust and dirt as you are, and would go to the festival! You have no clothes and shoes, and yet would dance!"

The sadistic stepmother gives Cinderella a "chance" to go to the festival. She throws a dish of lentils into the ashes and tells her if she can pick them out within two hours she can go.

But Cinderella is now empowered, and she enlists the help of all the birds beneath the sky, who come "whirring and crowding in, and alighted amongst the ashes." They pick out all the lentils with time to spare.

Cinderella accomplishes the feat (her first act to counter her suppressed state), but her victory is quickly squelched. The stepmother refuses to honor her promise. "No, Cinderella, you have no clothes and you can not dance; you would only be laughed at." She repeats the lentils trick, this time throwing twice as many lentils in the ashes and gives her half the time to pick them out.

Cinderella again gets the birds to pick the lentils out of the ashes. The stepmother still refuses to honor her promise, again reiterating the basic problems with her going along: She has no clothes and she can't dance. The stepmother sets off for the castle with her daughters, leaving Cinderella behind.

The protagonist attempts to reverse her power position only to fail. As is usual in literature, however, the third time is the charm. After the initial failures, Cinderella must adjust her thinking and her action accordingly if she wants to fulfill her intention: to go to the festival. This represents the real turning point in the second dramatic phase—movement from a position of weakness toward a position of greater strength. The protagonist must get to the point where she can effectively challenge her rivals.

Cinderella goes to her mother's grave beneath the tree and invokes the mother's spirit through the tree and the white bird:

Shiver and quiver, little tree,

Silver and gold throw down over me.

Presto, she's dressed to the tees, overcoming the deficiency of not having clothes. She goes to the festival and dances with the prince, who falls under her spell. While there is no imperative that she return home by a certain time (and have her carriage turn into a pumpkin), she must escape the prince by running away. Her intention is not yet completely fulfilled.

The second night is a repeat of the first. Cinderella is ravishing and the courtship continues, but Cinderella must make her escape by climbing into a pear tree.

The third night (again, three times), the prince devises a scheme of smearing the staircase with pitch so when Cinderella steps in it, it catches her slipper. (The slipper is variously described as gold or fur, never glass.) This part of the dramatic action represents a shift; the prince's interest in her is passive at first, but he must take action now to ensure he doesn't lose her. Cinderella is clearly rising on the power curve. She has done what her stepsisters could not.

End the second dramatic phase. The contest is yet unresolved; Cinderella has yet to fulfill her greater intention: to find freedom from her repressive stepsisters and stepmother, and to find the love of a man. She is leading a dual life: dirty housemaid by day, golden princess by night. She must reconcile these two states.

The third dramatic phase must bring the rivals into equal competition with each other. With Cinderella ascending on the power curve, she now can openly challenge her stepsisters.

The prince has a shoe but no princess to go with it, so he begins his search. The two stepsisters "were glad for they had pretty feet." The first stepsister tries on the tiny shoe but she can't jam in her big toe, so her mother advises her to cut it off, since "when you are Queen you will have no more need to go on foot." This her daughter does, and when the prince sees that the shoe fits, he puts her on his horse and heads back to the castle. On the way they pass Cinderella's mother's grave and the birds in the tree sound the alarm. The prince looks at the stepsister's foot, which is soaked with blood, and realizes she's a fake.

The second stepsister tries on the shoe, but her heel is too wide, and again the mother advises cutting off part of her heel since, well, you know ...

Again the prince is deceived, and again the birds tip him off. When he sees her stocking is soaked red, he returns her. Finally, it's Cinderella's turn. The stepmother refuses to produce her, saying it's impossible for Cinderella to be the mystery princess, but the prince insists, and the slipper fits. The rest, as they say, is history.

Except for one small detail. Cinderella is now fully empowered and has realized her freedom. But her defeat of her rivals isn't complete. (Since they're both disfigured it would seem to be enough, but apparently not.)

The stepsisters show up at the wedding looking to get into Cinderella's good favor. In a scene reminiscent of Alfred Hitchcock's
The Birds,
the pigeons attack the two sisters and peck out their eyes. "And thus, for their wickedness and falsehood," the story ends, "they were punished with blindness all their days."