The Elevator

“'Hello, Martin,' she said, and laughed, and pushed the Stop button." This is the last line of our story. At what precise part of the plot does this story end?

• Resolution

• Rising action

• Climax

• Falling action

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What social norm does the lady violate according to the main character?

• She uses her hands instead of utensils when eating.

• Elevator etiquette: she does not face the elevator door and stares at Martin while on the elevator.

• The fat lady is never on time for work which greatly inconveniences her fellow employees.

• The antagonist constantly looks at her watch when you are talking to her as if she wants you to hurry.

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"The elevator was an undeniable fact of life."

According to this line from the story, what does the elevator most likely symbolize in Sleator’s story?

• Fears or obstacles that must be overcome in life

• The aging process

• Older machines which must be replaced

• Life in an apartment instead of a single family home

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What information do we learn in the story’s exposition?

• Martin’s father works from home.

• Martin has a fear of elevators.

• The identity of Terry Ullman.

• The description of Martin, the elevator, and the building.

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"When the elevator stopped on his floor, she barely moved out of the way. He had to inch past her, rubbing against her horrible scratchy coat, terrified the door would close before he made it through. She quickly turned and watched him as the door slammed shut. And he thought, Now she knows I live on seventeen."

Why might the author, William Sleator, have chosen to italicize the last part of the excerpt above?

• Sleator wanted to emphasize Martin’s growing paranoia.

• Sleator wanted the readers to understand that Martin was really seventeen.

• Sleator italicized the last line of every paragraph in the story; it was part of his craft and structure (or what he was known for in his writing).

• Sleator wanted the reader to figure out that the lady must have been Martin’s mother if she knew the floor he lived on in the old building.

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9. Which of the following is NOT an example of a conflict in “The Elevator” by William Sleator?

• Martin versus his fears

• Martin’s father versus William Sleator

• Martin versus the fat lady

• Martin versus his father

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What is a direct character trait of the fat lady?

• beautiful

• fat

• sympathetic

• unusual

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Why does Martin have no choice but to take the elevator later in the story?

• He’s going to prove to his father once and for all that he is brave.

• He never does take the elevator again.

• He falls on a patch of ice at school and breaks his leg.

• He falls down the stairs and breaks his leg in the apartment building.

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Who is the protagonist of the story?

• Martin’s father

• The fat lady

• Terry Ullman

• Martin

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The reader can conclude when Martin arrives winded and gasping at the seventeenth floor, he is --

• so afraid of the elevator that he is willing to work hard to avoid riding on it
• out of shape and needs to exercise more
• ashamed of how his father will treat him if he rides the elevator
• almost as afraid of the stairs as he is of the elevator

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