The Elevator is a short, chilling story by the American writer William Sleator. Martin, a thin and timid twelve-year-old, has just moved with his father into an old apartment building. They live on the seventeenth floor, so Martin has to use the building's elevator (lift) every day. It is tiny, dim, dirty and shaky, and Martin dreads it.
Then a strange, enormously fat lady in a green coat begins to appear in the elevator. She never speaks; she only stares at him. Each meeting is more frightening than the last. Martin's father, who thinks his son is a coward, refuses to take his fears seriously. In the end, Martin, on crutches after a fall, is left alone in the elevator with the lady. She smiles and says, "Hello, Martin." The story stops there — we never learn who she is or what happens next.
The story works on two levels. On the surface it is a horror story about a mysterious, perhaps supernatural, figure. Underneath, it is a story about fear, loneliness and a child who gets no support from the one adult who should protect him.
Foundation first
Four ideas from earlier classes will help you read this story.
- Genre: horror. A horror story aims to frighten the reader. It does this by suspense, a strange or threatening figure, and a hint that something terrible may happen. Many horror stories, like this one, do not show the terrible thing. They stop before it.
- Suspense is the nervous waiting for what will happen next. A writer builds it by giving the reader small warnings, one by one.
- Point of view. The story is told in the third person ("Martin felt nervous"), but we stay close to Martin's feelings. We see what he sees and fear what he fears. We never enter his father's mind or the lady's.
- Setting. The setting is where a story happens. Here it is a tiny, dim lift in an old apartment building. A cramped, closed place makes any reader uneasy before anything has happened.
Elevator or lift? The story uses the American word elevator; in India we say lift. Both are correct, and you may use either word in your answer. Keep the story's word when you quote.
Worked examples
Example 1 (short answer, 2 marks). In two or three sentences, say what The Elevator is about.
Model answer. Martin, a timid twelve-year-old, is frightened of the old lift in his building and of a silent, fat lady who keeps appearing in it. His father mocks his fears. After Martin breaks his leg, he is left alone with the lady in the lift, and she says his name.
Why this scores: the character and the fear (1 mark), the father's role and the ending (1 mark). It is about 45 words, so it does not retell the whole story.
Example 2 (MCQ with a twist, 1 mark). In The Elevator, which of the following does Martin's father NOT do when Martin expresses his fear of the elevator? (a) He dismisses Martin's concerns. (b) He encourages Martin to use the stairs. (c) He tells Martin to grow up and be brave. (d) He watches TV and ignores Martin's fear.
Solution. (b). This was ICSE 2025 Q1(xiii) and 2027 specimen Q1(xvi). The father does the opposite of (b). He insists that Martin use the elevator like everyone else.
Why this scores: the word NOT turns the question around. The 2025 examiners' report records that some students overlooked "NOT" and lost the mark. Underline it first, then test each option as true or false.
Example 3 (short answer, 3 marks). The story works on two levels. Explain.
Model answer. On the surface it is a horror story about a mysterious lady who follows a boy in a lift and traps him at the end. Underneath it is a story about a lonely child who gets no help from his father. Martin's fear grows because nobody believes him, and his father is as much a part of the trap as the lift.
Why this scores: the surface level (1 mark), the deeper level (1 mark) and the link between them (1 mark).
Doubts cleared
Q. Is the lady a ghost? The story never says. She may be a real, strange woman, a supernatural being, or a picture made larger by Martin's fear. Section 7 shows the three readings. In the exam, choose one and support it with details.
Q. Why is the story told so closely from Martin's side? So that we feel what he feels. We share his fear, and we are as helpless as he is when the door closes.
Q. Is Martin really twelve? Yes, he is a twelve-year-old boy. Remember his name and age: the 2025 examiners' report lists the wrong recall of character names as a problem area in the Literature paper.
Q. Do I need to explain who the lady is? No. Nobody can, because the author does not tell us. The examiners want you to explain how the writer creates fear, not who she is.
Mistakes to avoid
- Writing the floors wrongly. Martin lives on the seventeenth floor. The lady first enters at the fourteenth, then at the third, and finally at the tenth.
- Saying that the story has a happy or settled ending. It is a cliff-hanger.
- Calling the father "cruel". Write that he is insensitive and lacks empathy, which is what the marking scheme expects.
Check yourself
- On which floor do Martin and his father live?
- What colour is the lady's coat?
- Name the type of ending the story has.
Answers: 1. The seventeenth floor. 2. Green. 3. An open ending, or cliff-hanger.