Structure

The short story “Eating Sugar” by Catherine Merrimanfollows a traditional plot structure; it has an exposition, a rising action, a climax, a falling action, and a resolut…

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Beginning

The short story begins with the exposition set in media res (in the middle of events); the setting, the characters, and the context are introduced while presenting an ongoing event:

For a moment, emerging from the forest trail onto the deserted road, Alex thought they’d taken t…

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Middle

The middle of the short story develops the rising action; it presents the tension experienced by Alex and his wife as they are in an unfriendly climate, an unknown setting and, eventually, accompanied by four Thai men.

At first, the narration focuses on the three different attitudes that the British characters have with regards to their situation. Eileen is openly panicking, Alex is also panicking but tries to maintain the appearance of calm, and Suzanne is fully relaxed and confident: “She was right, of course. He didn’t want to think about it—their utter helplessness, but at least she did.” (pp. 18-19, ll. 35-2)

As the panic begins to get hold of him, Alex recalls their arrival in Thailand and the incongruen…

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Ending

The ending includes the falling action and the resolution. The falling action also functions like an anti-climax. Contrary to Alex’s worst fears and expectations, the Thai men help them and take them in their car: “How stupid he’d b…