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Roald DahlA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Content Warning: This section of the guide contain descriptions and references to abuse and coercive control, accident, and death.
The narrative interest of “The Way Up to Heaven” rests heavily on the ambiguous choice and behavior of Mrs. Foster, and the ethics of these. This ethical question focuses on the morality of omission of action. In the United States, criminal law states that everyone has a moral and legal duty to assist someone in danger if they are able to do so safely. A deliberate lack of action is an “omission” and may make the person culpable. The United States is unusual in having this law, and this may contextualize Roald Dahl’s choice of New York for the story’s setting and readership. A British writer, Dahl lived in New York in the 1950s, but few of his stories are set in America. It is possible that America’s law of omission was of particular interest to Dahl as an ethical question, because in Britain, the law does not compel a bystander to aid another person in danger. The presence of the law adds real jeopardy to Mrs. Foster’s decision beside the story’s broader testing of ethical boundaries.
By Roald Dahl
Beware of the Dog
Beware of the Dog
Roald Dahl
Billy and the Minpins
Billy and the Minpins
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Boy: Tales of Childhood
Boy: Tales of Childhood
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Charlie And The Chocolate Factory
Charlie And The Chocolate Factory
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Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator
Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator
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Danny, the Champion of the World
Danny, the Champion of the World
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Esio Trot
Esio Trot
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Fantastic Mr Fox
Fantastic Mr Fox
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George's Marvelous Medicine
George's Marvelous Medicine
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Going Solo
Going Solo
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James And The Giant Peach
James And The Giant Peach
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Lamb To The Slaughter
Lamb To The Slaughter
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Matilda
Matilda
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Skin
Skin
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The BFG
The BFG
Roald Dahl
The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me
The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me
Roald Dahl, Illustr. Quentin Blake
The Landlady
The Landlady
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The Magic Finger
The Magic Finger
Roald Dahl, Illustr. Quentin Blake
The Twits
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The Witches
The Witches
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