House of Stairs

Lola is the second character who appears in House of Stairs and one of its five protagonists. She is also 16 years old and an orphan. She is depicted as rather brash and abrasive at first, but her sense of morality and loyalty lead her to develop a strong friendship with Peter. When he first meets Lola, Peter notes that “she was a little shorter than [him]. But the black eyes in her olive-skinned face were so direct and penetrative, yet speculative, that he quickly looked away again” (8). She also smokes and swears, and she mentions that she was used to getting in trouble at the orphanage where she lived.

As for her relationships with the other protagonists, Lola is initially perceived as rather abrasive by the rest of the group. At first, Peter is intimidated by her, and Lola is annoyed by his timid demeanor and his helplessness. However, she gradually realizes that Peter is stronger than she thought and eventually befriends him. She also antagonizes Blossom and Oliver as soon as she meets them and is equally irritated by Abigail’s passivity. Lola’s rivalry with Blossom becomes critical later in the novel and leads to the group fragmenting once they realize they must hurt one another to get food.

In terms of her emotional arc, Lola is initially extremely independent and self-reliant due to her conflictual history in her previous orphanage. Her issues with authority lead her to question the machine’s intent, and she decides to resist the cruel experiment. Throughout the story, her combative nature proves crucial in defeating the machine. Significantly, Lola is driven by a strong sense of morality, and she immediately refuses to hurt the others despite the consequences, i.e., starving or dying. She also learns that she cannot survive in that environment alone and repeatedly attempts to rally the others to her cause. She apologizes when she needs to keep the peace, for instance, and she later tells Peter: “Even I probably couldn’t [beat the machine] by myself. I need you, if it’s going to work. You are essential” (107). At the end of the novel, Lola and Peter are the only ones who remain relatively unaffected by the experiment due to their close bond, and they look forward to living the rest of their lives ostracized from the rest of society but reclaiming Power and Control over their lives.

Blossom is one of the five protagonists of House of Stairs. She, too, is 16 years old and an orphan, although she lost her parents only a few months before the story begins and is the only person who remembers her life outside the orphanage. Before finding herself in the house of stairs, Blossom’s life was very privileged. She lived in luxury among high government officials, and she often brags about the powerful people she met.

Lola describes Blossom as “a very fat person, with an abundance of golden curls tumbling down over her round back to the bulges at her waist” (20) and a “high-pitched and baby-ish” (22) voice. Blossom also wears a frilly dress, which becomes more and more tattered throughout the story, while she also becomes thinner and thinner due to starvation. Blossom is depicted as rather haughty, self-centered, and catty. She often whines about her situation and finds pleasure in undermining the others, often nagging at their insecurities for her gain.

As soon as they meet, Lola and Blossom immediately antagonize each other. They are often at odds throughout the novel, as Blossom openly seeks to undermine Lola’s leadership, and Lola does not hide her contempt for Blossom’s manipulative tendencies. Indeed, while Blossom can make herself seem helpless, she has a darker side that comes out as extremely manipulative and greedy. In Chapter 7, for instance, Blossom plots against Lola by pushing the latter to speak negatively about the others so she can use Lola’s words against her later. Blossom is driven by her hate: “Hating was so vital, so necessary. It was even her duty, in fact, to probe into Lola’s odiousness, and to help the others, for their own good, to understand it” (48).

While she initially justifies her actions through a warped sense of morality, Blossom’s true nature becomes more evident as the situation grows more and more dire. Her cruelty and sadism are heightened once the machine asks the teenagers to hurt one another, and Blossom responds with unbridled malice. Her willingness eventually makes her, according to Dr. Lawrence, a successful subject in his experiment. However, Blossom is distraught to learn about the conditioning she has endured and, at the end of the novel, remains paranoid and unable to socialize normally again, a witness to The Social Impact of Authoritarianism.

Abigail is one of the five protagonists of House of Stairs, also 16 years old and an orphan. When she first appears, she is described as “slender and tall. Her face, with its small chin and rather prominent nose, was not exactly pretty; but her serene expression, and the pale, shining hair falling to her waist, made her beautiful” (28). Abigail is initially friendly and unassuming, with a “gentle, musical voice” (27).

At first, she is hesitant to speak negatively about the others, such as when Blossom pushes her to criticize Lola behind her back. She is also struck by Oliver, for whom she seems to develop romantic feelings. Oliver is equally taken with Abigail, and the two of them begin a relationship. However, they are both inexperienced and naïve, and their interest in each other mostly stems from the forbidden aspect of their romance. Oliver’s controlling nature is quickly revealed, leading Abigail to remain interested in him but disillusioned. Indeed, Abigail is very well-mannered and obedient. She is “always considering what boys thought of her, or what the other girls in her group would think, [is] always trying to avoid doing whatever might hurt someone, or make her disliked” (81-82).

Throughout the novel, Abigail realizes that she feels “trapped” by her lack of independence. Blossom and Oliver also take advantage of her, which leads Abigail to slowly let go of her inhibitions. Despite her initial qualms, she learns to hurt the others to get food and eventually becomes as cruel as her counterparts. At the end, she is very distraught to learn that the conditioning she has experienced may be permanent, and Peter notes: “It’s too bad about Abigail. […] She looks so sad, and she was really okay once” (172). Like Blossom and Oliver, she is considered a successful subject of Dr. Lawrence’s experiment, and her fate remains ambiguous.