“I squeezed Kevin’s wrist in pulsing units, three pulses, then two pulses, then three pulses. I was trying to invent a physical language that could enter his sleep. But after a while I realized I wasn’t even squeezing his wrist, I was just pulsing the air. That’s how scared I was; I was squeezing air” (July).
For this month, I have decided to write on the short story, “The Man on the Stairs” by Miranda July. When I originally found the story, I expected a somewhat horror themed flash fiction; however, the story turned out to be nothing like any of the previous reading choices that I’d become so familiar with. It was a very abstract plot line that contained a lot of sidebar thoughts, and although the story did leave me confused, I find the need to commend the story for the connections the author made within the text as well as the way she was able to tie so many of them together. Ms. July gives so many characteristics of the main character that it feels as if in the midst of an intense situation she is almost comfortable having casual conversation, and really draws a clear picture of the protagonist’s mindset as well as the character’s reflection s on herself.
My favorite sections of the story are moments when she adds detailing in comparing herself to the intruder. Ms. July does a really phenomenal job with the polar opposites connecting and having such an abstract for of similarities. I also enjoy the details written about her boyfriend, but in some ways, it seems as though the main character is more connected to the intruder than the man she is with which I found very odd yet interesting. This story all in all really took me for a loop as the reader. Even as a writer, I found myself constantly thinking, I wonder where she got this idea from, and I wonder how she came up with this comparison.
I do believe there are areas that could have been edited that would improve the piece as a whole, but for the blogs sake I will spare the in-depth detailing of what I would suggest as specific changes. I’ll simply state that the ending, in my opinion, fell short of what it could have been seeing as though the entire piece had a constant build up that missed its mark on ending strong. Although the ending lines do add to the story, the plotline just swerves in a way that was not for the best. I also believe the explicit content within the piece is somewhat unnecessary. Yes, the minor section of content shows the protagonist’s inner thoughts, but it doesn’t necessarily add detailing to the story to make the plot move forward; it simple gives detailing to the protagonist’s boyfriend who isn’t focused on very much in the story anyhow.
Even though I found certain elements changeable within the piece, I still nevertheless believe this piece is a good read. It is most definitely a change in tone of my previous suggestions.
If you would like to read this short story, please click here.
