The Lady Higher Up by O. Henry
A young woman inherits a large sum of money from her aunt and decides to use it to help those less fortunate than herself. She sets up a fund to provide for the needs of various people in her community, including a struggling artist and a family who has lost their home. As she continues to give away her wealth, she becomes increasingly isolated and lonely, realizing that her actions have not brought her the happiness she had expected.
By O. Henry · First published 1910 · Genre: Humor, Social Commentary, Fiction · 4,442 words
First lines
New York City, they said, was deserted; and that accounted, doubtless, for the sounds carrying so far in the tranquil summer air. The breeze was south-by-southwest; the hour was midnight; the theme was a bit of feminine gossip by wireless mythology. Three hundred and sixty-five feet above the heated asphalt the tiptoeing symbolic deity on Manhattan pointed her vacillating arrow straight, for the time, in the direction of her exalted sister on Liberty Island. The lights of the great Garden were out; the benches in the Square were filled with sleepers in postures so strange that beside them the writhing figures in Dore's illustrations of the Inferno would have straightened into tailor's dummies. The statue of Diana on the tower of the Garden -- its constancy shown by its weathercock ways, its innocence by the coating of gold that it has acquired, its devotion to style by its single, graceful flying scarf, its candour and artlessness by its habit of ever drawing the long bow, its metropolitanism by its posture of swift flight to catch a Harlem train -- remained poised with its arrow pointed across the upper bay. Had that arrow sped truly and horizontally it would have passed fifty feet above the head of the heroic matron whose duty it is to offer a cast-ironical welcome to the oppressed of other lands.
What this Textopian page supports
The Lady Higher Up is listed on Textopian as a short story by O. Henry, dated 1910 CE.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Short story
- Author: O. Henry
- Date: 1910 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Humor, Social Commentary, Fiction, Short Story, Satire
- Length: 4,442 words
- Structure: 1 section, 65 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Standard (8th-9th Grade)
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- Work identity for The Lady Higher Up by O. Henry
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
- Readability and classroom-planning context
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Discussion starters
- What should a reader notice first when entering The Lady Higher Up?
- How does this short story by O. Henry fit its genre, period, or classroom use?
- Where does Humor first become important in the reading?
Similar titles
- An Original Idea by O. Henry
- The Girl And The Habit by O. Henry
- By Easy Stages by O. Henry
- Grounds For Uneasiness by O. Henry
- A Disagreement by O. Henry
- No Help For It by O. Henry
Genres
- Humor — The work employs wit and satire to explore social themes and character interactions.
- Social Commentary — It critiques societal norms, immigration, and the American experience through the lens of humor and dialogue.
- Fiction — The narrative is a fictional account that blends reality with imaginative elements.
- Short Story — The work is concise and structured as a short story, focusing on a specific event and character interactions.
Tags
Short Story · American Literature · Humor · Satire · Social Commentary · Class Conflict · Marriage · Relationships · Love · Deception · Appearance vs Reality · Irony