A sudden strained gasp. Turning toward the noise, I was astonished to see the young man drop his briefcase and burst into tears.” This quote introduces the protagonist to his challenge; he is being initiated into the main event of the story which he must internalize, then proceed with an action. The unexpected shock of seeing the stranger cry, and being the only other person in the elevator is the start of this journey. Being confused and unaware of what to do, the protagonist opts to do nothing and thus leading him to his deep-rooted feelings of regret and guilt. “The elevator stopped on the 10th floor and, without looking back, I stepped out.
The Step Not Taken In the essay The Step Not Taken, the author is a hero engaged in a personal search for answers on how to respond to others’ suffering. He experiences in his search the three stages of a monomyth; separation, struggle, and return. From the beginning of his search to the end, the author changes his views significantly, resulting in an epiphany when he finally realizes he has found the answer he had been looking for. The story begins when the author is separated from his everyday life and is placed in abnormal situation in which he must make a decision. When the man in the elevator with him starts to cry, the author is faced with the decision of either helping the man or giving him his space.
Morality in “the Step not Taken” by Paul D’Angelo Paul D’Angelo addresses an interesting subject in “The Step not Taken,” through his own personnel monomyth he presents the moral question of whether it is morally right to ignore the obvious suffering of another human being. The story begins with a man entering an elevator with a “junior executive” looking man in an office building, just a normal day with nothing unusual. Just as in the first stage of the monomyth all seems normal with no warning to the approach of a challenge; “then it happened.....I was astonished to see the young man drop his briefcase and burst into tears,” the main character, has now been faced with his quest. Has in true city tradition he ignores the crying man and leaves the elevator, which is his initial refusal. This point in the story signifies the transition from an external journey to an internal struggle of the protagonist.
In the story “The Steps Not Taken” by Paul D’Angelo, our narrator which is our hero undergoes a personal journey on how to respond to others suffering. In literature, this is known as the Monomyth Archetype. A Monomyth archetype is made up of three stages that our hero moves through and these stages are separation, struggle and return and reintegration. After the hero goes through his brief experience, it is now a defining moment where he experiences an epiphany that shapes his understanding and view on life and others. Even though the characteristics of this Monomyth are not obvious, it will be later on explained and be supported to better understand our hero’s quest.
The protagonist begins to question the morals of the modern world; this is where the hero reaches his epiphany. The hero’s epiphany comes some time after the incident, when he has had to think and process what happened and the way he feels about it, he listens to the thoughts of others who tell him he ’did the proper thing, the best thing, by leaving the young man alone’ but he realizes that he should have helped the man in need even if it wasn’t the society norm as he states ‘Like so many things in life, I know now what I should have done then. I should have thrown caution to the winds and done the right thing. Not the big-city thing.’ He is deeply apologetic for his actions and makes a vow to change that in the future as he would not want the ones he loves to be treated that way in their time of need, ‘The thing I would want someone to do if they ever found my son crying in an elevator. I should have given him the opportunity to unload his sadness onto my
In the essay, ‘The Step Not Taken’ by Paul D’Angelo, the author depicts a story of a man caught between doing what he feels is the right thing, and doing what makes him comfortable. By analyzing the archetypal structure of the story, the reader clearly sees how the man in the elevator experiences the cycle of the monomyth. The first stage is the separation – upon seeing the other man in the elevator break down in tears, the narrator refuses to rise to the occasion and offer his help. During the struggle, or initiation, the narrator realizes that what he has done by walking away from the elevator without saying a word was the wrong thing to do. And finally, throughout the return and reintegration, the narrator realizes his mistake, and refuses to go back to being the way he was previously.
Living in an impoverish and crime filled city, he learns early on that, since he’s not a tough kid, the safest thing to do is be invisible and back down from any sort of trouble without asking questions. When he and his friend Toddy are walking through an alleyway on their way home from Atomic Comics, their frequent hangout, they’re stopped by two thugs and robbed. While Toddy just accepts what happened and walks away, Dave knows deep down that something needs to change. After questioning why, in a world where there have been so many fictional superheroes, nobody had ever tried to actually be a superhero, David feels it is his responsibility to make a difference. So begins his departure from the known world.
Usually in a monomyth the leading character portrays the role of an undiscovered hero who lives in an ordinary world destined to take on a future challenge. In the beginning the hero usually tries to escape his fate contemplating the irregularities it may present. Friends and guardian usually come to support the young hero during his journey. They guide him when At the end of a monomyth, the hero falls into the realm of death and confronts the ultimate enemy which reveals his dark side, his evil and submerged half. Having faced and conquered his dark side, the hero returns home, far stronger than before.
He is in the elevator going back up to his room when in the elevator with him, a man asks if he wants to have a little fun and offers him a prostitute. At first he is very excited at the thought of having a prostitute. Things change when she finally arrives in his room and right away, he gets a feeling of sadness. “The trouble was, I just didn’t want to do it. I felt more depressed than sexy, if you want to know the truth.” (125).
* Question the degree of the influence Edie has on him and his future. * He turned Edie away from being a nun. Both of them had an equally important influence on each other. This is where the subtlety and nuance. * Its more revenge and self-interest rather than the driving force behind his moralities * He is uneasy about taking on the role as whistle-blower * Struggles with the decision to abandon the code of D & D * He is indecisive until Charley’s death * Rage and desire seem to drive him rather than any desire to address a moral failing * After inquiry Terry is transformed into a stronger more positive version of himself.