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The Common Structure

 After reading chapter 25 of How to Read Literature Like a Professor--Don't read with your eyes--a paragraph within the chapter seemed to catch my eye. The author talks about a category used in numerous stories known as the "last-chance-for-change" stories. This type of story is time imperative by which the character of focus tends to be of old age. Within these stories, the older, main character has been presented multiple opportunities in which they can change, grow, and reform. However it is up until the very last available moment that they take this opportunity to grow and develop their perspectives/beliefs. Also, the author notes that while the main character tends to be older, the quester is typically younger. With this in mind, I began to think about this type of structure and storyline and I realized that not only is this technique used in literary works but also in cinematic pieces. 

The first example I could think of is the popular, holiday movie A Christmas Carol. Through the main character, Ebenezer Scrooge we see this "last-chance-for-change" storyline play out. Scrooge an old, grumpy man that has always hated Christmas is turned into a cheerful, joyous man after changed by the spirit of Christmas's past and future.

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Not just through this example but overall, these connections we see time and time again between the storyline structures of different novels, movies, plays etc. displays how similar these pieces of work tend to be. However even with this reoccurring storylines, authors and creators are still able to portray numerous types of messages. Evidently, while being quite similar through structure, literary and cinematic works remain individual through their details.

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