The Symbol of Elevators and Gates in An Academy for Liars

What Are Elevators and Gates?

In Alexis Henderson's An Academy for Liars, elevators and gates are physical manifestations of persuasive will. They allow travel through space and, for rare practitioners, through time. As Benedict explains to Lennon, humans need a familiar way to conceive of the inconceivable — the image of an elevator creates liminality and helps conceptualize the gate's function. The gates are not fixed in form; they adapt to the user's mind and historical moment. William Irvine first opened a single door, then a hallway with many doors, and later elevators after encountering them in New York. Benedict speculates that ancient practitioners might have seen gates as stairways, corridors, curtains, or even fields of tall grass parting to reveal another world. The core principle, as Benedict states in chapter 15, is that the mind makes reality — and the elevator is an extension of the user's identity.

Where Elevators and Gates Appear

Recurrence	Chapter	Key Detail
Birdcage elevator to a nonexistent eighth floor	Chapter 3	Benedict directs Lennon to take this elevator for her final exam.
William's fixed elevator in Irvine Hall	Chapter 15	A permanent gate with buttons to cities like New York, Amsterdam, and Kyoto.
Two-doored elevator summoned in pain	Chapter 21	Lennon's hand forced into fire; the elevator reveals a pastoral scene with a gray barn.
Time gate raised with Dante's help	Chapter 46	Lennon reaches the past after siphoning Dante's will.
Expanded gate to save Drayton	Chapter 57	Lennon widens her elevator to encompass the entire campus after Dante's sacrifice.
Elevator doors glimpsed behind Dante	Chapter 58	Lennon recalls seeing doors open just before the collapse, hinting he may still live.
Elevator to Dante's Brooklyn childhood	Chapter 59	Lennon opens a gate to summer in his childhood, where she offers him a choice to return.

The symbol recurs through the entire narrative, shifting from a mysterious test of faith (chapter 3) to a weapon of protection (chapter 57) and finally to an instrument of grief and hope (chapters 58–59).

How the Meaning Changes

The elevators and gates evolve across the novel in several meaningful ways:

From transportation to time travel. Early in the story, gates seem like convenient shortcuts through space — William's elevator in Irvine Hall simply moves passengers between cities. But by chapter 45, Dante reveals that some gatekeepers can open channels through time, not just space. This is why the faculty feared Lennon's power from the start: the consequences of temporal travel can be "deadly and far-reaching."

From external tool to internal extension. In chapter 15, Benedict tells Lennon that the elevator "is you." This reframes the gate not as a device but as a projection of the user's will, emotions, and identity. Lennon's first gate appeared during a psychedelic, emotionally vulnerable state; her later gates arise from pain, determination, or love.

From escape to responsibility. Lennon initially uses her gate to flee — from her engagement, from Wyatt, from her suicidal thoughts. But by chapter 57, she expands her gate not to run but to protect the student body sheltering at Logos House. The gate becomes a burden of gatekeeping, a duty to sustain Drayton's hidden existence.

From loss to connection. In chapters 58–59, Lennon's inability to accept Dante's death drives her to open a gate to his past. The elevator becomes a bridge across grief, allowing her to offer Dante a choice between staying in his past or returning to life with her. It transforms from a symbol of separation into one of reunion.

Character Connections

Lennon Carter is the central gatekeeper. Her elevator is shaped by her trauma, her love, and her stubborn refusal to let go. It evolves as she does: chaotic and unreliable at first, then powerful and purposeful by the novel's end.

Dante Lowe serves as both mentor and cautionary example. He could open only one gate — always to the same fixed point in his own past. He tells Lennon he was "too mired in his own past to be of any real use." His limitation underscores the danger of allowing grief to anchor a gate in time. In chapter 57, he channels his life force into Lennon so she can expand her gate, sacrificing himself.

Benedict Barton explains the theory behind the gates and trains Lennon. His own gate — the fixed elevator in Irvine Hall (chapter 15) — represents stability and tradition, in contrast to Lennon's unpredictable gates. His apprentice Claude is being prepared to inherit this gate, showing how gatekeeping is passed down across generations.

William Irvine is the historical figure who first created gates large enough to hide Drayton from the world. His act of persuasion erased Drayton Square from memory and reality, at the cost of his life. Lennon is compared to him repeatedly: both can shape reality itself, not just persuade people.

Blaine and Kieran witness but do not wield gates themselves. Kieran's refusal of a professorship (chapter 58) highlights the isolating cost of gatekeeping.

Theme Connections

Persuasion and Will: Gates are raised through concentrated persuasive will. The more powerful the will, the more reality bends.
Power and Corruption: The faculty fears Lennon's time-traveling gates as a threat to reality itself. Dante warns that if Drayton's gates collapse, "the world's worst people" would weaponize persuasion.
Sacrifice and Redemption: William died raising the walls around Drayton. Dante sacrifices himself so Lennon can stabilize the campus. Lennon risks her life and sanity to bring Dante back. The gate demands sacrifice from those who wield it.
Secrecy and Truth: The gates hide Drayton from the outside world. They are both protective walls and prisons of secrecy.
Trauma and Identity: Lennon's suicidal thoughts, her fiancé's betrayal, and her mental health history shape how her gates manifest. Dante is trapped by his past. The gates externalize internal wounds.

Study Questions and Answers

1. Why does William Irvine's gate change from doors to elevators after he sees an elevator in New York?

According to Benedict in chapter 15, humans need a familiar form to conceive of the inconceivable. William's mind adapted the gate to a culturally recognizable image that "both invites use and most accurately conveys its purpose." The elevator form creates a sense of liminality — a threshold between here and elsewhere — that makes the gate's function intuitive. The same principle applies across history: ancient gatekeepers might have seen stairways, curtains, or fields of grass as their thresholds.

2. How does the time elevator differ from spatial elevators in terms of cost and risk?

Dante explains in chapter 45 that opening channels through time carries consequences that are "deadly and far-reaching." Spatially, the elevators drain energy but remain relatively stable. The time gate, however, requires far more willpower. In chapter 46, Lennon can only raise a gate to the past by siphoning Dante's power — and even then, the experience nearly destroys them both. The elevator's bell sounds "warped," and its doors glow white-hot, suggesting the temporal gate operates under different physical rules. The cost is higher because time travel risks damaging the fabric of reality itself.

3. What does Benedict mean when he tells Lennon that "the elevator is you"?

Benedict's statement in chapter 15 means that the gate is not separate from its creator — it is a direct projection of the user's mind, will, and emotional state. This explains why Lennon's first elevator appeared during a drugged, dreamy state of relaxation, while later gates arise from pain, terror, or determination. It also explains why the elevator takes a form that the user can understand. If the practitioner changes, the gate changes. The statement carries a warning: because the gate is an extension of self, losing control of the gate means losing control of oneself.

4. Why does the faculty fear Lennon's gates more than those of other students?

The faculty fears Lennon's gates because she possesses the rare ability to open channels through time, not just space. Dante reveals in chapter 45 that this is what truly alarmed them during the hearing after Ian's death. Temporal travel can alter reality in ways that permanent spells cannot be undone. The collapsing Drayton gates (described in chapter 45) create a crisis only a time-capable gatekeeper might solve — but that same ability makes Lennon a danger if she loses control. Her mental health history and emotional intensity compound the risk: the faculty worries she will act impulsively with a power that can break reality. As Dante says, the school needs assurance that she is not "a threat not just to the school and the students in it, but to reality itself."