The Way Up To Heaven

Content Warning: This section of the guide contains descriptions and references to abuse and coercive control, accident, and death.

“The Way Up to Heaven” is a journey in resilience, self-assertion, and revenge on Mrs. Foster’s part, as it traces her gradual realization that her husband tortures and gaslights her, and her reaction to the fateful opportunity to be rid of him.

The beginning of the story establishes the theme of The Negative Effects of Societal Expectations through exploring the power of Mr. Foster to control and torment Mrs. Foster. Mrs. Foster’s fear of being late, and aligning twitch, is ambiguously framed by the narrator as a “silly” character flaw. This shortcoming is excused because she is a loyal, obedient, dutiful wife. As the story develops, the reader realizes that Mrs. Foster’s self-control is in fact remarkable and that her anxieties are purposefully fueled by her oppressive husband, Mr. Foster, who leverages gender role expectations to maintain control of her life. Mrs. Foster is not allowed to speak up to address her feelings or issues around the need for better communication and compromise, as she has been “trained too well” (48) for that. Societal expectations at the time placed value on women for focusing on their husbands and children. Mrs. Foster has followed these rules and now finds herself trapped in a coercive marriage, away from her child and grandchildren. She has had to “persuade” Mr. Foster to give permission to go on a trip to see her grandchildren, and receiving this has been a “miracle.” Societal expectations have set her up to yearn for connection that she cannot have because the same expectations have relinquished her control and enabled her husband to keep her from her desires.

Mrs. Foster represses her frustrations around her husband’s purposeful abusive torment, but her agony is apparent through her repetitive questions about timing. Readers come to see that her eye twitch is a motif indicating the only safe way that her body can outwardly express her torment due to society’s and her husband’s restrictions. Mr. Foster’s control is revealed as a cycle where he purposely contributes to her anxieties, analyzes the effects on her psyche, and then punishes her for them by framing these as her fault. As the plot develops, there are repetitive examples of Mr. Foster’s extended torment of his wife, highlighting the theme of The Limits of Tolerance for Abuse. Mr. Foster continuously puts Mrs. Foster down, minimizes any legitimate difficulties or emotions she is having, and does not support Mrs. Foster seeing her grandchildren, though—or because—he is aware of how important they are to her.

The story makes clear that Mr. Foster has withheld permission for his wife’s trip for as long as possible (“months”) and, after giving consent, does everything he can in an attempt to stop her going. Even when it is clear that he is examining her and her twitch, and torturing her further with his repeated statements that she will miss the flight and not make it to Paris when they are stuck in the fog, she is not able to speak up. Mrs. Foster is so entrenched in the role society has dictated for her, and so accustomed to Mr. Foster’s abuse, that she has resigned herself to staying in New York as a dutiful wife with her husband until his death. When the flight is postponed, forcing her to return home to repeat the same routine the following day, she reaches her breaking point. Once she has reached her limit of enduring her husband’s torment and is presented with an opportunity for escape, she shifts from victim to radical self-liberator through her choice and its extreme consequences.

Mrs. Foster’s choice not to go inside to fetch her husband when he postpones for the last time is not obviously dramatic, but as the story completes, we realize that she has chosen empowerment at the cost of her husband’s life. This brings up the theme of The Ethics of Choosing Not to Act, or action by omission. Murder is morally reprehensible, and allowing someone to die when one could intervene is generally considered immoral. However, the story follows Mrs. Foster’s journey and reveals her experience as she is emotionally tortured by her husband’s treatment of her. The portrayal of Mrs. Foster’s suffering, and Mr. Foster’s enjoyment of it, makes her a sympathetic character and one obviously haplessly trapped by both society and her husband. More than this, the structure and patterning of the story’s layering of abuse and increased revelations encourage the reader to expect, if not to wish, that Mrs. Foster will assert herself and/or Mr. Foster will be punished. The reader is therefore made complicit in her undisclosed act.

Mrs. Foster’s act of omission when she leaves her husband in the lift is mirrored by the story’s implicit suggestion that society has chosen not to act while her own life has been ruined. Due to Mrs. Foster’s sympathetic portrayal, and the understanding that the reader has built of her situation, the judgment of her leaving her husband to die is complicated, not least by the story’s refusal to describe what she has done, her intentions, or the consequences. At the end of the story, the reader is left to consider whether Mrs. Foster’s act of omission has led to Mr. Foster’s death and, if so, whether this is justified as a radical act of self-liberation, or extreme retribution by someone who has reached The Limits of Tolerance for Abuse perpetuated by The Negative Effects of Societal Expectations.