Exploring ‘The man on the stairs’ as a way of triggering discussion about personal decisions in teenage classrooms

 “This is my number two problem: I am never satisfied with what I have. It goes hand in hand with my number one problem: rushing.”(July, 2008, p20)

The short story “The man on the stairs” by Miranda July provides teachers of young adult readers with a glimpse of what could be used by them as the centre of debate inside the classroom. This paper aim will be to explore the story “The man on the stairs” as a medium to discuss young adult life decisions in the classroom.

Young adults are defined by Eaglen (cited in De Vos, 2003) as part of “that age group who no longer consider themselves children but are not yet considered adults by the adult world.” Adolescence transition to adulthood includes many developmental changes in the body and in the mind for this reason, “The gap between childhood and adulthood is vast--physically, emotionally, psychologically, and spiritually--and it is the teens' task to bridge it” (Koelling, 2004, p.75). The task to complete their transition is not easy to carry out because young adults are in a period of awareness of the causes and awareness of the consequences that the outside world has on them. They are no longer children, now they can think abstractly and they can imagine different circumstances that may affect them.  

In order to express their feelings and express their ideas, young adults assign importance to different life experiences by analysing them critically. In this way, values taken from their adult models may be judged by young adults to help them to develop their own system of values. In this period their major concerns are about how daily choices will influence their future, which is why considering the possible results of their actions configures their criteria for decision making. Teenagers pass through different changes in their relationships, they are no longer dependant on their parents, and they begin to notice new roles in society. In addition being aware of their new position may help them to form social and personal values, which are necessary for planning their future. “The challenge for young adults is to accumulate, organize, and evaluate enough values, beliefs, attitudes, and ideas to build their own value system.” (De Vos, 2003).

One particular strategy to help young adults in the complex transition from adolescence to adulthood is to deal with ‘life decisions’ in the classroom. Storytelling may be used as a useful medium in order to engage students in classroom discussions. This helpful strategy presents a different manner to introduce and discuss themes of young adult’s concern proposed in a story. Young adults are open to be benefited by experience while listening to stories, because they may be able to picture and even contextualize strong sentiments they are dealing with in real life. What adults consider as conflictive values and roles can be explored through analogies presented in storytelling. Therefore, young adults may feel identified with a character facing problems such as taking decisions and its consequences in their future.
 Correspondingly with the storytelling of “The man on the stairs”, young adults become aware of how the main character in the story deals with life choices. The story presents a fictional but possible real life situation where the listener may reflect upon the theme of dealing with life decisions. The short story tells about a young woman who is about to be murdered. As the killer gets closer to her, she begins to reflect upon the life decisions which placed her in that inevitable situation.

The storytelling of events occurred in the story set the basis for young adults to connect the woman motives with their own life experiences. Purposeful questions may arise when analysing why the character regrets of her choices while facing a limit situation.  Questions such as what she has done with her life and how different her life would be will guide students to share their perspectives. “The man on the stairs” may generate in students different points of view for problems, such as not being satisfied with life and not being able to enjoy of simple things until it is too late. Above all, it is the young adult’s judgement of the woman choices what may open a debate in the classroom as they can use the story as an analogy of real life events. Considering the character’s thoughts of concluding that she would have a different adult life style may help to interchange opinions among young adults, who may state explicitly their own system of values while accepting or discarding the woman choices .

Through the discussion generated after storytelling “The man on the stairs” students can be benefited in their emotional, intellectual and social development. Classroom discussion contributes with the students’ emotional aspect as they are open to share their feelings and identify similarities with their peers’ emotions. Concerning intellectual development, students are able to go beyond the story and analyze deeply the events making connections with their own experiences. As regard social development through debating “The man on the stairs”, students may be benefited by expressing the importance of certain values in terms of past experiences, current events and future challenges that are part of the students concern. Sharing their opinions and supporting the principle and ideas of their peer’s thoughts may result helpful for them as they develop a sense of responsibility for their actions and their consequences.

 ‘The man on the stairs’ used as a tool in the classroom may generate instances to discuss alternate solutions to problems faced by the main character. Students may debate and express their thoughts and beliefs about the character’s decisions encouraged by identifying similarities on their classmates’ points of view. Through discussion students may find an occasion to share their personal experiences and think ahead about the consequences of their daily life choices. Using analogies in storytelling may serve as reminders of certain benefits and consequences they may get in real life situations.  It also works as a guide for young adults to construct a value system in order to face different circumstances, where they will need to make an immediate risky choice.

References:

De vos, Gail. 2003. Storytelling for young adults: a guide to tales for teens. Westport, CT: libraries Unlimited.

Eaglen, Audrey B. 1983. Services to Young Adults in Public Libraries. Illinois libraries 65 (7):  p.420-24. Cited in De vos, Gail .2003. Storytelling for young adults: a guide to tales for teens. Westport, CT: libraries Unlimited. (P.2)

July, M. 2008. No one belongs here more than you. Digital edition by Canongate Books Ltd.

Koelling, Holly.2004.Classic connections: Turning teens in to Great literature. Westport, CT: libraries Unlimited. (p.75)