The Man On The Stairs Analysis

The map is of a local light rail which is now discontinued; already dead by the time you read the map. The story is The Man On The Stairs by Miranda July, included in her debut collection of stories No One Belongs Here More Than You. The story begins upon the realization that the main character is going to die, to be murdered next to her lover. Both capture a quiet and ultimate suffering- we begin knowing the end will not be what we wish it was.
Depicted in the map are two seemingly autonomous tracks, which through the course of the map conjoin, but only for a brief time, before finally separating and creating a mess of railways stops and stations. Mirroring these are the protagonist of The Man On The Stairs and her lover, who quickly disappoints us in his relationship with the narrator. Our main character, who is never officially named, is suddenly awakened
This also dictates the demographics which can best make use of this map. By annotating key stops tailored to its audience-(universities, amusement parks and venues, and public shopping centers) the map unites the audience in the universality of its function. All of which are- at least subliminally, selfish. The destinations in and of themselves imply a distance around the character, and their peers, and their goals etc. The map follows July’s theme of characterization and motivation. College students either care about their major too much or are in college because their parents, their teachers, their pastors etc have told them to. They will all make excellent secretaries after graduation but they still do not love the person they are about to die next to. We, like the victim of The Man On The Stairs, are condemned to live a life where we need to know bus routes. It’s actually quite common, of course, but that’s the