AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

ROALD DAHL1916 - 1990D.O.B: 13th September 1916P.O.B: Llandaff, Wales

Education Background:...> 1923 - 1925.....- attended Llandaff Cathedral School (experiences in this school gave Roaldthe inspiration to write about "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory")...> 1925 - 1929.....- attended St. Peter's prep school in Weston-Super-Mare...> 1929 - 1933.....- attended Repton, a famous public school in Debyshire.....- excelled in sports (heavyweight boxing & squash)

Literary Career...> 1942, Washington.....- Roald first literary text "Shot Down Over Libya" was published in the 'Saturday Evening Post' anonymously in August 1942.....- first short story published in the post was "A Piece of Cake"...> 1943.....- Roald first children book "The Gremlins" was published...> 1943 - 1960.....- Roald devoted most of his time writing short stories for adults

Achievements...> 1954 - 2000, Roald Dahl has won about 25 award and below is just some example of the award...> 1954, 1959, 1980.....- won Edger Allen Poe Award from the Mystery Writers of America...> 1983.....- won Federation of Children's Book Groups Award.....- won Whitbread Award.....- won World Fantasy Convention Award

Summary!!!The Way Up To Heaven is a short story written by Roald Dahl. It’s about Mr and Mrs Foster ‘sad’ life. How they bare each other just because of the word ‘marriage’. Mrs Foster has a fear of being late; whether it is for missing bus, train or flight. The story

starts when Mrs. Foster was waiting for Mr. Foster. She was going to visit her daughter Allen in Paris. Mr Foster insisted to follow her to the airport to drop her but at the same time he was purposely taking a very long time in getting ready. He doesn’t likes to be early. He just wants to be there on time. Mr Foster will be staying in the club while his wife is on holidays. Their servants are given holidays too.

Mrs Foster is terrified she will get late, she is consoled by her butler to not worry; she will get there on time but still she is not happy. Basically she just wants to get to the airport as fast as possible then there will be a smile on her face. However, she manages to get to the airport on time just to find out that her flight has been delayed due to bad weather but by the time she found out her husband was all ready gone back. Her flight was postponed to 11 am the next day. She calls her husband to inform him that she will get a hotel nearby but instead he insisted that she comes home to sleep. So she goes home after having dinner. 

The next morning as Mrs. Foster gets ready to leave to the airport, Mr. Foster announces that he wants her to drop him at the club before going to the airport. This terrifies her again because the club is out of

the way. He basically wants to test her patience by doing all he can to make her late. He takes his own sweet time to get into the car. As he stepped into the car finally, he announces that he forgot the present he wanted to give to his daughter and says he will go and get it immediately. This incident makes Mrs. Foster more and more terrified of being late to the airport.

As she grows increasingly impatient and anxious while waiting in the car, she notices the present - a comb - hiding under the seat where her husband had been sitting and "couldn't help noticing that it was wedged down firm and deep, as though with the help of a pushing hand ", and tells the driver to go and call him down. He tries to enter but the door is locked. She decides to go herself, but then, with the key in the door she suddenly freezes, as if listening intensely. After a few seconds, she returns to the car, says there is no time, and is driven off to the airport. 

Things go well in Paris, and she writes her husband each Tuesday. When she returns to Idlewild Airport she finds out that her husband has not sent a car to pick her up, so she gets into a taxi, arrives home, rings the bell but no answer. She sees the letters she sent wasn’t picked up and finds the

house in a bad odour. Noticing that the elevator is not in order, she calmly dials for a repairman and waits at her husband's desk for his arrival.

The implication is that Mr Foster was stuck in the elevator, and that Mrs. Foster heard and decided to ignore his screams for help, condemning him to death as the house was to be unoccupied for six weeks.

Plot

Introduction/

ExpositionThe story first introduced Mrs. Foster as someone who has “had an almost pathological fear of missing a train, a plane, a boat, or even a theatre curtain.” She was planning to visit her daughter and her grandchildren in Paris. So, the story started with Mrs. Foster waiting for her husband anxiously at their house in New York, ready to go to the airport.

Rising Action/ ConflictThe story became complicated when Mrs. Foster’s flight was delayed until eleven o’clock on the next day due to the fog. Mrs. Foster had to go back home again and come back to the airport the next day. In the second conflict, again, she was faced with her twitching problem as her husband; Mr. Foster deliberately tried to slow her journey to the airport again. It started when Mr. Foster asked Mrs. Foster to wait in the taxi while he went inside the house again to find the present that he wanted to give to his daughter in Paris. He claimed that he left the present inside the house, whilst he

actually had wedged the present down under the seat, which Mrs. Foster had noticed at last when Mr. Foster when looking for it in the house.

ClimaxThe climax, or the main turning point, of the story is the moment when Mrs Foster freezes at the front door to listen to a sound. She is a completely changed person after that. When she was in Paris she knew her husband is in danger but pretended not to know.

Falling ActionMrs. Foster managed to arrive at the airport in time and flew to Paris. She was described as “....and as the plane flew farther and farther away from New York and East Sixty-second Street, a great sense of calmness began to settle upon her. By the time she reached Paris, she was just as strong and cool and calm as she could wish.” Mrs. Foster had a great time in Paris with her grandchildren and she wrote to her husband every Tuesday for 6 weeks.

ResolutionThe ending was told as Mrs. Foster coming back home and seeing a pile of unread mails and “and there was a faint and curious odour in the air that she had never smelled before.” The story ended with Mrs. Foster calling someone to help repair the stuck elevator.

Setting

Time Settings- On a January of 1950’s- The time length of the story is 6 weeks“But on this particular morning in January, the house had come alive...” (page 2)

“`It's ten minutes past nine, Madam.'” (page 2)

Place Settings- New York City, on East Sixty-second Street“Mr Eugene Foster, who was nearly seventy years old, lived with his wife in a largesix storey house in New York City, on East

Sixty-second Street, and they had four servants.” (Page 2)

- New York Airport“She sat for hour after hour on a bench, as close to the airline counter as possible, and every thirty minutes or so she would get up and ask the clerk if the situation had changed.” (Page 5)

“It wasn't until after six in the evening that the loudspeakers finally announced that the flight had been postponed until eleven o'clock the next morning. (Page 5)

- Paris“This was an important journey for Mrs Foster. She was going all alone to Paris tovisit her daughter, her only child, who was married to a Frenchman.” (Page 3)

“She met her grandchildren, and they were even more beautiful...” (Page 9)

“Once a week, on Tuesdays, she wrote a letter to her husband a nice, chatty letter -full of news and gossip, which always ended with the words Now be sure to take your meals regularly, dear, although this is something I'm afraid you may not be doing when I'm not with you.'” (Page 9)

CHARACTERSThe main characters in the short story are very funny actually. They are a couple married for more than 30 years who basically don’t have love between them anymore just bound to the relationship called ‘marriage’. Mr and Mrs. Foster are an old couple who has a daughter Allen married to Frenchman with three kids are the main characters of the story. The way Roald Dahl portrayed these two characters are remarkable. He made the readers to imagine themselves in Mrs. Foster’s shoes.

MR. Foster

Mr.Eugene Foster, is the antagonist of this short story.

He is a 70 years old man who is portrayed to be a very cruel man even though it’s not

certain whether he is or not (pg.1). From a reader’s point of view, even though he knows his wife suffers from this problem, he will purposely take his own sweet time to get ready to increase his wife’s misery (pg.2).

He is a very punctual type of man. Just a one or two minutes late. He doesn't likes to be early. (pg.1).

He can be very sarcastic as well. While on the way to the airport, he tries to increase Mrs. Foster’s misery by telling her that it is just ridiculous to come out at this weather as the plane is bound to be cancelled (pg.4).

In contra to Mrs. Foster, Mr.Foster is an up to date in his dressing (pg.3). ‘As he spoke, a door opened and Mr Foster carne into the hall. He stood for a moment, looking intently at his wife, and she looked back at him - at this diminutive* but still quite dapper* old man with the huge bearded face that bore such an astonishing resemblance to those old photographs of Andrew Carnegie’.

He is also a very rude person. He calls his wife stupid.(pg.6) What type of husband calls his wife stupid?

With this concept, I think he is just trying to irritate her so much, that she might just get heart attack out of misery and die.

Mrs.Foster

Mrs. Foster is the protagonist of the story.

She has a pathological fear of missing a train, a plane, a boat or even a theatre curtain. If she is in this situation, her eyes will begin to twitch (pg.1).

She likes to be an early bird. She cannot bare the imagination to miss the flight she is going to take to Paris.

Indirectly, this situation makes her very impatient. She wants everything to be fast (pg.5) but she is well disciplined; that she would never dare to call out or tell him to hurry (pg.1 & 2).

She is also good and loving wife, mother and a grandmother. As a wife, she served Mr.Foster loyally and well (pg.2). She is also very fond of her daughter and grandchildren (pg.3).

Other than that, it is stated that Mrs. Foster is a very modest woman (pg.2). It means a woman of humble in spirit and manner. Even though she doesn’t thinks that Mr.Foster purposely tortures her but she has caught herself beginning to wonder about it.

From her dressing, it makes a statement of old fashioned. Mrs Foster herself, in an old-fashioned fur coat and with a black hat on the top of her head (pg.2).

The Relationship between Mr. and Mrs. Foster

Their relationship is somewhat we call 'marriage'; bond to each other happy or sad, poor or rich, sick or healthy. They are suppose to be together. As they are all ready old, there is no point of leaving each other. Moreover, the short story set to be wrote somewhere in the 50's, it was not in the trend for couples to divorce.Mr. Foster and Mrs. Foster have a frigid and somber relationship. They don't love each other anymoreAs a evident, in the short story it is stated that they don’t even sleep in the room. There is no balance in their relationship. Mr. Foster has disciplined her too well to never rush him. If they were in a healthy relationship, there would be some kind understanding about each other’s needs. 

Mr. foster as man tortures Mrs.foster. She devoted all her life on him. Sacrificed living near her daughter for him but still he cant keep her happy.

LITERARY DEVICES

 Theme

Anxious about being late.

In this story, Mrs.Foster is one of the main characters in the short story. Basically,

she is a person who is very particular of time. Whenever, she is in the state of

being late (in her sense, being early), she feels nervous and makes her nerves of

the left eye to twitch. This state will last for almost an hour even after she

manages to catch her transport such as train, boat or flight. This is mentioned in

the beginning of the story in the first paragraph, line 4 to line 5. For an example,

she was very uneasy when Mr.Foster was delaying her time to get to the airport on

time and her eye started twitching. She kept on asking her butler, Walker about

the time. Moreover she was carried away with her anxiety when Mr.Foster was

looking for the gift he bought for Allen. She talked against him rudely by saying,

“It’s one of those silly combs anyway. You’re always giving her combs.” 

The feminist movement and how oppressed women can and were being

pushed.

In this case, Mrs. Foster is presented as an oppressed and somewhat a mentally

tortured wife. So, it’s clear that Dahl is making a statement about feminism, but

what is that statement? On the surface it seems that he is arguing for women by

giving importance to Mrs. Foster’s character. He expressed in detail how she

reacts when the husband bullies her against her weakness. The character also

interprets and leaves a mark about how wives those days would be. One of the

most pathetic situations would be when a wife wants to leave desperately yet still

handling all the mental tortures. After all, doesn’t Mrs. Foster gain the ultimate

victory over her torturous husband? However, after examining Dahl’s other works

and some biographical information, the answer may not be that clear. Since

Mrs.Foster is basically a very soft and weak-hearted kind of person, she might end

up feeling guilty for the rest of her life. Therefore, freedom is still argumentative

here.

 Ton

e Angry and helpless

Mrs. Foster’s character is the character that shows anger throughout the

play. However being a woman and a wife to a torturous husband she kept

her anger to herself and simply helpless. She would just wait and mourn for

being unable to do anything. She however got impatient when Mr.Foster

wants to return to the house to look for the gift and said out the word “silly”

as a sign of anger. 

Suspense

Suspense grew in when Mrs.Foster stopped to listen for the repetition of

some sound at the house door. This happened when Mr.Foster pretended to

look for the gift and yet left it in the car on purpose. As a reader it made me

to wonder what happened to Mr.Foster when Mrs.Foster drew the key from

the key whole and left the place without waiting for Mr.Foster. Towards the

ending ironies like the untouched letters posted by Mrs.Foster to her

husband, the dark, cold and dusty look of her house and lastly the faint and

curious odour in the air. The writer described the setting to be different than

the normal and usual one and it made the readers to keep reading curiously

to know what really happened in the house. 

Language

The language used in this text is simple English language and

understandable by all the readers.

Foreshadowing The weather was foggy when Mrs.Foster

wants to leave the house for the airport. It foreshadows that Mrs.Foster’s flight have high possibility to be cancelled. As in the text, “It looks a bit foggy”, he said as he sat down beside her in the car. “And it’s always worst out there at the airport. I shouldn't be surprised if the flight’s cancelled already”. When Mrs.Foster reached the airport, the flight was cancelled as assumed by Mr.Foster.

There is another foreshadowing that can be seen in this text when Mrs.Foster was trying to open the door; she heard some familiar and suspicious sound. Then she just hurried from the doorstep and left for her flight. This situation foreshadows that something bad or unexpected incident has happened to Mr.Foster inside the house. Finally, it is found that Mr.Foster was dead in the elevator since the elevator got stuck between two floors and there was no exit. Mrs.Foster knew this for sure only after she returned back from Paris even thought she assumed Mr.Foster to die inside the elevator.

Flashback The flashback is shown when Mrs.Foster in

her way back home from Paris, she compared the weather in New York with Paris where there were lumps of dirty snow lying in the gutters of the streets. She just compared the past situation of her in Paris and the present one in New York.

 Irony(1) Situational

There was an unexpected event happened in the story. Once Mrs.Foster returns from Paris, no one was there to open the house door for her. Then, she noticed that the letters she sent to her husband was still lying on the floor. Moreover, she smelled a faint and curious order in the air that she had never smelled before. In the end of the story, we got to know for sure that Mr.Foster was dead.

(2) Verbal

As Mr.Foster is someone who is sarcastic person in this story, there is one part where it shows that he meant an opposite meaning of the situation compare too what he exactly said. For example, when Mrs.Foster came back from the airport, Mr.Foster said, “How was Paris?” even though he knows that the flight was postponed.

Mrs.Foster wants to avoid Mr.Foster following her to the airport since he’ll try to make a delay. Therefore she said, “And I certainly hope you’re not going to bother to come all the way to see me off,” sarcastically and with an hidden meaning.

A similar situation happened inside the car when Mrs.Foster asked Mr.Foster whether he’ll write her letters while she’s away to Paris. Mr.Foster said he doubt it since he don’t write letters unless there’s something specific to say. Then, Mrs.Foster replied him by saying, “Yes, dear, I know. So don’t you bother.” It was rather sarcastic and mocking than an ordinary statement.

The sentence “a tiny vellicating muscle in the corner of the left eye, like a secret wink”. The author referred the twitching eye as a secret wink.

“…. he was somehow like a squirrel standing there- a quick clever old squirrel from the Park.” The author compared the way Mr.Foster stands to a squirrel.

The second example of simile from the text is “his legs were likegoat’s legs in those narrow stovepipe trousers that he wore”. He referred Mr.Foster’s leg is like a goat’s legs when he wore the narrow trousers.

The next example is “The rest of the day was a sort of nightmare for her” where the author described Mrs.Foster’s feelings when her flight postponed. Therefore, the author referred the rest of the day as a nightmare for her.

The author used human characteristic to describe Mr.Foster’s manner. For an example, “his manner so bland”. It shows that his manner does not have any strong and fixed emotions or excitements.

The author used animal characteristic to describe the way Mr.Foster observed Mrs.Foster. The line is, “He had a peculiar way of cocking the head and then moving it in a series of small, rapid jerks.” Cocking is literally the characteristic of birds. The word cocking in the text generally means the way Mr.Foster moves his head.

The twitching eye of Mrs.Foster symbolizes her nervousness. Whenever she is in the state of being late or going to be late, she will become nervous as she keeps on asking the time from the butler, Walker. This causes her left eye to twitch until she safely caught the train or plane on time.

Towards the ending of the story, Mrs.Foster will go to check out the elevator and when she returns, she’ll have a glimmer of satisfaction on her face. This shows that she’s happy that her torturous husband, Mr.Foster is no more and she can return to Paris with her daughter.

As a revenge tale, “The Way Up to Heaven” satisfies because Mr. Foster’s sadistic behavior is so thoroughly redressed by the wife he so completely underestimates. Mrs. Foster did not plan to kill her husband, but when she saw a sudden opportunity to free herself from his cruelty and make a happy life for herself in Paris, she acted. Apparently she was not as “well disciplined” as her selfish and arrogant husband believed her to be.