What are you afraid of? Are you afraid of clowns, heights, or spiders? Have you ever faced that fear? Well in William Sleator’s “The Elevator” the reader’s learn that trying to face your fear doesn’t always turn out well, “The Elevator” is about this boy named Martin who meets this old lady on the elevator. Martin is afraid of elevators so it doesn’t help when the lady is giving him the death stare. After Martin meets the lady a few more times, he gets scared and takes the stairs but ends up fracturing his leg and can no longer use them. When Martin gets home from the hospital his dad quickly jumps off the elevator to talk to someone. As the elevator goes to his floor, it stops at level ten and there stands the old lady as the doors open.
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So even in the first part of the story Martin is trying to face his fears of elevators. The second part is when Martin became fearful of the old lady and decides to take the stairs but ends up fracturing his leg half way so he had to use the elevator instead of the stairs. This scene showed how Martin got scared and didn’t want to face his fears anymore but his fractured leg kinda made him face it. The last part is when Martin gets home from the hospital with his dad to only be alone again when his dad quickly jumps off the elevator to help a neighbor. While Martin was going up it stopped at ten and when the doors opened, there stood the old lady. She quickly got on and as the doors closed she said “Hello Martin” the pushing the stop button. It shows how after all of that, Martin did face his fear in a way. But it didn’t turn out so well as he thought. Some may think that the theme is “Don’t face your fears because nothing bad can happen to you if you don’t face it.” While this can be a good claim, there are some problems with this, however. If you don’t face your fears then how are you going to overcome them? Martin was afraid of elevators and he lived in an apartment building. He can’t use the stairs for the rest of his life. My claim shows that facing your fears shows that you’re being
So even in the first part of the story Martin is trying to face his fears of elevators. The second part is when Martin became fearful of the old lady and decides to take the stairs but ends up fracturing his leg half way so he had to use the elevator instead of the stairs. This scene showed how Martin got scared and didn’t want to face his fears anymore but his fractured leg kinda made him face it. The last part is when Martin gets home from the hospital with his dad to only be alone again when his dad quickly jumps off the elevator to help a neighbor. While Martin was going up it stopped at ten and when the doors opened, there stood the old lady. She quickly got on and as the doors closed she said “Hello Martin” the pushing the stop button. It shows how after all of that, Martin did face his fear in a way. But it didn’t turn out so well as he thought. Some may think that the theme is “Don’t face your fears because nothing bad can happen to you if you don’t face it.” While this can be a good claim, there are some problems with this, however. If you don’t face your fears then how are you going to overcome them? Martin was afraid of elevators and he lived in an apartment building. He can’t use the stairs for the rest of his life. My claim shows that facing your fears shows that you’re being