Plot and Structure: The Lame Shall Enter First

In the story “The Lame Shall Go First” the exposition starts off with a simple breakfast between a son and his father. As taught in “How to read Literature like a Professor” states that a simple meal in a story is more than just a meal. It is communion; which tells the reader that the story is going to be biblical based. The communion goes wrong, which kind of sets the mod of the story, which is bad, and demented. The child gets sick of eating all kinds of food and pukes it back up on his own plate.

The rising action starts to build up when Sheppard, the father, goes into description about Rufus Johnson, and how when he came to him in the reformatory, he saved him in his eyes, and made him a better person. This shows Christ like figures. Sheppard looks upon himself as a prophecy. He “saves” people, and makes them better. It gives the readers a taste that Sheppard is full of himself, and infers that he does not believe in the bible or God. He tries to safe Rufus, and offers him to stay at his home anytime he would like by giving him a key to his home. Once again, to him, he is saving Rufus.

Rufus has a prosthetic leg.  It is described descriptively as dirty, old, and black. It is symbolism that takes place here as it represents his personality in a way, and how his life has been horrid. Rufus however is a believer of the bible and decides to share it with the son. He explains that his mother is in heaven, in the sky, and that the only way for good people like Norton, can get there by dying; therefore, Norton falls in love with a telescope and stares into the sky to hope to see her. Which falls into the climax where the readers guess it is when Rufus comes into Sheppard’s home while only his son is there, and makes a ruckus throughout the home upsetting the child; but this story has a messed up Freytag pyramid. The ending concludes with Johnson confronting Sheppard about being crazy, and a strong atheist, and how he did more for him than he did his own son. Sheppard is in guilt and instantly decides to be a better parent towards his son, Norton. He goes up in the attic to find Norton with the telescope, but instead he finds Norton hanging in the Jungle of shadows by a beam, to be with his mother.