Create original outline, showing conflict-driven plot-line between
one protagonist and one antagonist.
Sunny Johnson
goldenwoman@hotmail.com
The Protagonist of this story is Molly, an 18-year-old young woman
who is a senior in high school, smart and college-bound. She lives with
her father, a very controlling man who is local Chief of Police.
Her mother died in an auto accident when Molly was 5. Her internal
conflict is that she craves security but desires freedom to live her own
life. Her external conflict is she must overcome her father's personal
and social power to achieve that freedom.
The Antagonist of this story is Molly's dad, Rex Barker. His internal
conflict is his desire to control every detail of his life, including Molly,
so that he looks good socially and politically, vs. his desire for his
daughter's love. His external conflict is himself vs. his daughter.
The theme of the story is that attempts to control loved ones lead to
sick relationships and hurt to all involved, and that each of us must draw
and defend our own boundaries, even with family members.
Beginning: In the first scene, Molly tells her dad that she is
3 months pregnant and plans to keep the child. The father is actually
a Mexican fisherman that Molly met on vacation, but she has decided to
raise the child herself and she won't tell her father who the father of
the baby is. Molly's dad insists that she must get an abortion and
not "disgrace him by graduating with a big belly." Molly accuses
him of caring more about his public image than his daughter's feelings,
he gets angry, and he slaps her across the face, twists her arm behind
her, and pushes her into her bedroom. Thus, Molly's decision to have
the child is the propelling force of this story, and the basic conflict
of Molly vs. dad is established. Rex's actions show that he is choosing control over love.
Quarter-point: Molly waits until everyone is sleeping, then packs
a back-pack of clothes and leaves her home. Before she leaves, she
calls a local women's shelter and finds out where to go to get help.
This shows how smart and how determined she is. Later, at the shelter,
she meets Annie, a social worker who takes a picture of the handprint on
Molly's face, and counsels her about her options. Molly is afraid
to leave the shelter because of her dad's police powers and his anger,
so she decides to complete her high school courses with at-home lessons
at the shelter. In these scenes, Molly is taking action to overcome
obstacles and resolve her conflicts, but she is running from her father.
Middle: Rex has a police friend spy on the women's shelter, and
he sees Molly leave the shelter to go for a doctor's appointment.
Rex and his friend kidnap Molly and bring her back to Rex's house.
Rex punishes Molly for running away by beating her within an inch of her
life, then locking her in her room. Rex has finally established unequivocally
that his need for control has overrun any concern about his daughter's
well-being, and Molly finds herself at her darkest point in the story.
She starts hemorraging and is afraid she is losing the baby.
Quarter-point: Jana, the family's live-in cook, helps Jana escape
the house and get to the hospital the next day when Rex is at work.
Jana is afraid of Rex, but cares for Molly. At the hospital, Molly
calls Annie, and when she does lose the baby, Annie helps Molly to bring
charges against her father. Molly's decision to bring the charges
against her father despite her need for security advances the plot line
of her developing her independence against his controlling her life.
Climax: When the charges go to court, many townspeople come forward
to testify defending their police chief, but at a crucial moment, Jana
overcomes her own fears and comes forward to testify about the beating
Rex gave Molly. When Molly stands up in the public court to testify
against her father, it is her moment of greatest courage, and crystallizes
her resolution of her inner conflict. She has chosen freedom versus
security.
End: Rex is sent to prison for beating Molly and killing the baby.
Molly is now safe, and free to go forward with Jana and Annie's help to
finish high school and go on to college. Thus the story's conflict
line is resolved. Rex's inner and outer conflicts destroyed him,
while Molly's actions in response to her inner and outer conflicts finally
won her both the freedom and the security she needed. She learned
that her security could not come from her father, it had to come from herself.Back
Comments? Sunny Johnson
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