"The Way Up to Heaven" is a short story by Roald Dahl, penned in 1954 for The New Yorker magazine. It was later included in a volume of short stories published in 1960, entitled Kiss Kiss. While Dahl's work has a reputation for dark imagery and surrealist plots, "The Way Up to Heaven" is known as one of his more macabre pieces. Dahl's well-known children's literature like James and the Giant Peach and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory showcases some of these macabre impulses, pitting young protagonists against older villains and revolving around elements of dark comedy. In "The Way Up to Heaven," however, children are entirely absent from the story, and Dahl instead focuses on the tensions between a married couple, Mr. and Mrs. Foster.
Husband and wife are markedly different when it comes to timing and punctuality: Mrs. Foster is relentlessly anxious about being late for things, while Mr. Foster derives pleasure from exacerbating his wife's anxiety and intentionally delaying her. This dynamic is the central focus of the story as Mrs. Foster prepares to catch a plane to visit their daughter in Paris. As the story unfolds, readers become privy to the nuances of the couple's relationship and the way that Mr. Foster's subtle cruelties slowly deteriorate his wife's dedication to their marriage.
