Reader's Workshop Part 3: Analyze the Literature “The Elevator” is about a boy named Martin who recently moved with his father to.a new apartment. Living on the seventeenth floor, Martin has no choice but to take the elevator. The idea of the elevator terrifies him. What exactly is Martin so afraid of? Use what you've learned about plot and conffict to analyze +this unsettling story. iam Sleator Short story by Ie-was an old building with an.old elevator—a very small elevator, with Close Read a maximum capacity of three people.(Martin, a thin twelve-year-old, fele | Exposition (lines 1-40) [ee ‘pezvous init from the frst day he and his father moved into the apartment. | ‘ Of course he was always uncomfortable in elevators, afraid cae shey would _| 5 | fall bur there was something especially unpleasant about tis one, Perhaps ts 1. Reread the [boxed] ‘aleful! atmosphere was duc to the light from the single fluorescent ceiling deal anak dou strip, leak and dim on the dirty brown walls. Pechaps the problem was the team about the main door, which never stayed open quite long enough, and slammed shut with character Martin in the such ominous, clanging finality. Pethaps it was the way the mechanism exposition? 10. shuddered in 2 kind of exhaustion each time it left a floor, as chough it might never reach the next one. Maybe ic was simply the dimensions ofthe contraption that bothered him, so small that i felt uncomforeably crowded ‘even when there was only one other person in it ‘Coming home from school the day after chey moved in, Martin tried the 15. stairs, But they were almost as bad, windowless, shadowy, with several dark landings where the light bulbs had burned out. His footsteps echoed behind hhim like slaps on the cement, as chough there was another person climbing, getting closer, By the time he reached the seventeenth floor, which seemed to take forever, he was winded and gasping. 20 His father, who worked at home, wanted to know why he was so out of breath, “But why didn't you take the elevator?” he asked, frowning at Marcin when he explained about che sta you skinny and weak and (had at sports, his expression seemed to say, bur you're also a coward. After that} ‘Martin forced himself to cake the elevator. He would have to get used 10 it, he 25 | told himself, juse the way he got used to being bullied at school, and always | picked lase when they chose teams,(The elevator was an undeniable Fact of Fie 1. baleful: sinister ominous. neapen’s worksHo? 27| 30 38 8 60 6 | 28 He didn't get used to it, He remained rense in che trembling litele box, his 2. Consider what you've eyes fixed on the numbers over the door that blinked on and off so haltingly, read so far about the as ifat any moment they might simply give up. Sometimes he forced himself setting and Martin's to look away from them, to the Emergency Stop button, of the ted Alarm feelings about his button. Whar would happen if he pushed one of them? Would a bell ring? surroundings. What Would the elevator stop berween floors? And ifit did, how would chey get «do you think the main him out? contlict willbe about? ‘That was what he hated about being alone on the thing—the fear of being trapped chere for hours by himself. But it wasa’s much better when there were other passengers. He felt too clase to any other rider, too intimate. And he was always very conscious of the effort people made no? to look at one another staring fixedly at nothing, Being shor, in this one sieuation, was an advantage, since his face was below the eye level of adults, and after a brief glance they ignored him. il the morning the clevator stopped ac the fourteenth floor, and Close Read the fat lady got on, She wore a threadbare green coat chat ballooned Rising Action around her; her ankles bulged above dirty sneakers. As she waddled into the begins (lines 41-80) levator, Martin was sure he fel it sink under her weight. She was so big that L as she filled che cubicle; her coat brushed against him, and he had to squeeze into the comer to make room for her—there certainly wouldn't have been room for another passenger. The door slammed quickly behind her. And then, unlike everyone else, she did not stand facing the door. She stood with her back ro the door, wheezing, staring directly at Martin, For a moment he met her gaze, Her features seemed very small, squashed together by the loose fleshy mounds of her cheeks. She had no chin, only a great swollen mass of neck, barely contained by the collar of her coat. Her sparse red hair was pinned back by a plastic barrette. And her blue eyes, ‘hough tiny, were sharp and penetrating, boring into Martin’ face. Abruptly he looked away from her co the numbers over the door. She didn't ‘urn around, Was she still looking at him? His cyes slipped back to hers, then quickly away. She was sill watching him. He wanted to close his eyes: he wanted to turn around and stare into the corner, but how could he? The levator creaked down to twelve, down to eleven, Martin looked at his watch: he looked at the numbers again. They weren't even down to nine yet. And then, against his will, his eyes slipped back to her face. She was still watching him, Her nose tilted up; there was a large space between her nostrils and her upper lip, giving her a piggish look. He looked away again, clenching his 3. What eventsets the rising action in motion? teeth, fighting the impulse to squeeze his eyes shut against her. 4, Martin seems to perceive She had to be crazy. Why else would she stare at him this way? What was the strange lady asa she going to do next? threat, In your opinion, She did nothing, She only watched him, breathing audibly, until the is this conflict real rin elevator reached the first floor at last. Martin would have rushed past her to get hisheaa? Support your NIT i PLOT AND CONFLICTeae cd ” *0 as 95 100 cout, bur there was no room. He could only wait as she curned—relucrantly, i sccmed to him—and moved so slowly out into che lobby. And then he ran. He ddidn’e care what she thought. He ran past her, outside inso the fresh ais, and he ran almost all the way to school. He had never felt such telief in his life He thought about her all day. Did she live in the building? He had never scen her before, and the building wasn’t very big—only four aparements con each floor. Ie seemed likely that she didn't live there, and had only been visiting somebody. But if she were only visting somebody, why was she leaving che building ax seven thirty in the mocning? People didn’t make visits at thac time of day. Did thar mean she did live in the building? If so, ic was likely—ic was a certainey— thac sometime he would be riding with her on the clevator again. Eh -was apprchensive as he approached che building after school. In the WIS lobby, he considered the stairs. But that was ridiculous, Why should he be afraid of an old lady? IF he was afraid of her, if he lec ie control him, chen he was worse than all the names they called him at school. He pressed the burcon; he stepped into the empty elevator. He stared at the lights, urging the elevator on, It stopped on three. "Atleast i's not fourteen, he told himself; the person she was vsicing lives cn fourteen. He watched the door slide open—tevealing a green coat, a piggish face, blue eyes already Fixed on him as though she knew he'd be there. Te wasntt possible, It was like a nightmare. But shere she was, massively ral “Going up!" he said, his voice 2 humiliating squeak. ‘She nodded, her flesh quivering, and stepped on, The door slammed. He watched her puday hand move coward che buctons, She pressed, not fourteen, bur cighteen, the top floor, one floor above his own. The elevator trembled and began its ascent.? The fat lady watched him. “He knew she had gotten on at fourteen this morning. So why was she ‘on three, going up to eighteen now? The only floots he ever went to were seventeen and one, What was she doing? Had she been waiting for him? Was she riding wich him on purpose? But chat was crazy. Maybe she had a fot of fiends in the building. Or else she was a cleaning lady who worked in differene apartments. That had ro be iu, Fle fel her eyes on him ashe stared at the numbers slowly blinking om [ind off slower than usual, ic seemed cw him Maybe the elevator was having ‘rouble because of how heavy she was. It was supposed to carry three adults, tout it was old. What if it gor stuck between floors? Whac if ic fll? "They were on five now. It occurred to him to ptess seven, get off there, and walle the rest of the way. And he would have done it. if he could have reached the buttons. But there was no room to get past her without squeezing against her, and he could not bear the thought of any physical contact with her. He concentrated on being in bis room. He would be home soon, only another 2 ascent the act of cimbing oriing upward Close Read eae continues (lines 8174) ] X | 5, What internal conflicts plaguing Martin in fines 81-84? 6. Tension builds as Martin, ‘and the lady meet again, What details in lines 88-105 help to create suspense about what right happen? One detail is boxed) READER'S woRksuor 2930 130 10 150 minute or so. He could stand anything for a minute, even this crazy lady watching him, Unless che elevator got stuck between floors. Then what would he do? He ‘tied to push the thought away, but it kept coming back. He looked at her. She was sill staring at him, no expression acall on her squashed litle features ‘When the elevator stopped on his flor, she barely moved out ofthe way. He had to inch past her, rubbing against her hotrible scratchy coat, terrified the door would close before he made it through. She quickly turned and watched bim as the door slammed shut. And he thought, Now she knows I live on seventeen. “Did you ever notice a strange fat lady on the elevator?” he asked his father that evening, “Can't say a8 Thave,” he said, not looking away from the television He knew he was probably making a mistake, but he had to tell somebody. “Wall, she was on the elevator with me twice today. And the Funny thing was, she juse kept staring ac me, she never stopped looking at me for a minute. You think... . you know of anybody who has a weird cleaning lady or anything?” "What are you so worked up about now?” his father sai, turning impatiently away from the television, “Tm not worked up. Ie was just funny the way she kept stating at me. You fnew how people never look at each other inthe elevator, Well, she just kepe looking at me.” “What am I going to do with you, Martin?” his father said. Hl sighed and shook his head. “Honestly, now you'e aftad of some poor old lady “Tm not afraid.” “"You'e afraid,” said his father, with total assurance. “When are you going ‘0 grow up and act like a man? Are you going to be timid all your life?* Hie managed not co cry until he go ro his room—but his father probably knew he was crying anyway. He slept very litle, 7. What details in tines 121-139 suggest a conflict between father and son? n in the morning, when the elevator door opened, the fat lady was 8. Review your answer Hwalting for hima. to.question 4. Then She was expecting him. She knew he lived on seventeen, He stood there, consider the lady's tunable co move, and then backed away. And as he did so, he expression behavior each time changed. She smiled as the door slammed, Martin sees heron He ran lor the stairs. Luckily, the unlie flight on which he fell was between the elevator. Has your sixteen and fifteen. He only had to drag himself up one and a half flights wich eee the cerible pain in his leg. His father was silent on the way to the hospital, pean disappointed and annoyed at him for bcing such a coward and a fool, Ie was a simple fracture. He didn't need a wheelchair, only a cast and crutches, But he was condemned to the elevator now, Was that why the fat lady had smiled? Had she known it would happen this way? ‘Atleast his father was with him on the elevator on the way back from the hospital. ‘There was no room for the fa lady to get on. And even if she did, his UNIT E: PLOT AND conrLicT :Cea aed father would see her, he would realize how peculiar she was, and then maybe 158 he would understand. And once they got home, he could stay in che aparement for a few days—the doctor had said he should use the leg as little as possible. A.week, maybe—a whole week without going on the clevator. Riding up with takes an unexpected his father, leaning on his crutches, he looked around the litle cubicle and felt tum, How might this akind of triumph. He had beaten the elevator, and the fat lady, for the time development affect 160 being. And the end of the week was very far away. Martin’ conflict? “Oh, [almost forgot,” his father reached out his hand and pressed nine. “What ate you doing? You're not gecting off, are you2” he asked him, trying not to sound panicky “I promised Terry Ullman I'd drop i on her,” his father said, looking at his 16s watch as he stepped off. 9. In lines 145-160, the story “Lee me go with you, I want co vist her, 100,” Martin pleaded, struggling forward on his crutches. Bur the door was already closing, “Afraid to be on the elevator alone?” his Close Read father said, with 2 look of total scorn. “Grow up, Martin.” The door slammed Climax {line 173) 9 shut. L Martin hobbled to the buttons and pressed nine, bur it didn’t do any good. fs The elevator stopped at ten, where the far lady was waiting for him. She ‘moved! in quickly; he was too slow, too unsteady on his crutches to work his ‘way past her in time, The door sealed them in; the elevator started up, 75 “Hello, Martin,” she said, and laughed, and pushed the Stop button. 10. Line 175i the climax, Cr turning point, of the story. Do you think Martinis in danger Explain your opinion, ‘Close Read Falling Action and Resolution > LEE Tl. The author ends this story at the climax and doesn't indicate how the conflict between Martin and the lady is resolved. Why do you think the author made this choice? i] e ' Rpaper’s worksHor 31