“Everything is alive”
Other People“Everything is alive” is Mary Lamb / Amy Hide’s thought as she climbs the seven stairs in the sleeping house. The expression gives the stairs a place in her world beyond their practical use: each is alive and, as she thinks, has something to be said for it.
Occurrence and Meaning
After moving silently through the sleeping house toward the room she loves, Mary Lamb / Amy Hide pauses on the last step. She thinks, “All things are alive, even these seven stairs,” then extends the thought: “Everything is alive, everything has something to be said for it.” The exact count makes the idea concrete: it is not only a general claim about life, but an attention to the particular stairs beneath her feet.
Narrative Context
The thought follows Prince’s insistence that the sky creatures are “just clouds, air, gas.” Against his reduction of what she sees in the sky to inert matter, Mary Lamb / Amy Hide’s thought affirms life in the humble, familiar structure she is climbing. The expression thus marks a difference in perception: the stairs are not merely part of the house, but something she recognizes as having its own presence and significance.
