Lipsyte uses very descriptive words to create imagery in this scene. This shows Alfred's pessimistic outlook on life. Alfred assumes the worst in people because he thinks that Donatelli, even though he is a excellent instructor, is "too cheap to fix [the stairs]." Earlier in the story he viewed the stairs as friends and now you can see how his aspect of life has changed just based on how much pain he is in from training. Furthermore, this change in views demonstrates how Alfred is a dynamic character, and how his emotions strongly effect what he thinks of people. In Alfred's "mind jar" the pain of training represented a dark tint much like water after tea has been added, changing his spect of
