“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.
