The Second-Story Man

In Short

This play is a sharp, claustrophobic confrontation set in the dead of night. When a burglar named Jim Faraday breaks into the home of a successful lawyer, Harvey Austin, he discovers that the lawyer was the company man responsible for swindling him out of injury compensation. The encounter forces a devastating awakening upon Harvey’s wife, Helen, who realizes their prosperity is built on the suffering of the working class. The work remains relevant for its unflinching look at how systemic cruelty creates both victims and those who profit from them.

The Story

The drama begins at 2 A.M. in the library of a luxurious home. Jim Faraday, a broken, one-eyed man, enters through a window to steal. He is soon interrupted by Harvey Austin, who returns home in evening dress, unaware of the intruder. Before Harvey can act, Jim comes face-to-face with Harvey’s wife, Helen. Though initially frightened, Helen quickly realizes that Jim is not a hardened criminal but a desperate man. She promises him safety if he puts down his revolver, and in the ensuing conversation, she coaxes out his history.

Jim describes his former life as a healthy worker at the Empire Steel Company, where he suffered a horrific accident that cost him his eye. He reveals how a "smooth-faced" company lawyer tricked him into signing away his rights to compensation, leaving him destitute. As Jim recounts the tragic downward spiral—his wife dying of pneumonia, his two children perishing in misery, and his eventual descent into alcoholism and burglary—Helen becomes increasingly agitated. When Harvey enters the room, the recognition is instantaneous and chilling. Jim identifies Harvey as the lawyer who cheated him.

Helen turns on her husband, demanding to know if he truly misled the injured man. Harvey defends his actions as standard "business," claiming he was merely representing his company's interests. Helen is horrified, realizing their entire lifestyle—the house, the furniture, and their comfort—is essentially "blood money" earned by destroying lives like Jim’s. She accuses Harvey of being a murderer in spirit and demands to know if he has any remorse.

Harvey, panicked by his wife’s sudden moral transformation, attempts to solve the problem by offering Jim a bribe and a new job, hoping to "fix" the mistake and return to his life of privilege. Jim flatly rejects the money, pointing out that Harvey’s casual offer only highlights his detachment from the suffering he has caused. He further exposes the company’s corrupt practices, including the buying of juries and the systematic exploitation of workers. Jim concludes that Helen, despite her sudden sympathy, is ultimately trapped by her class and cannot truly change the system. He leaves the house without taking anything, telling Helen he leaves Harvey to her—a punishment that will last a lifetime. As Jim exits, Helen collapses in despair, and Harvey is left in the wreckage of his own integrity.

How It Unfolds

The intruder enters Jim Faraday breaks into the quiet, affluent home, seeking only food and valuables to survive. He is quickly caught by Helen, whose surprising calm prevents a violent standoff and shifts the interaction into a candid dialogue.

The history of ruin Jim unspools the story of his life, detailing the mechanical horror of the steel mills and the legal trap set by a company lawyer. His account of his wife’s death and the tragic loss of his children provides the emotional core of the play.

The mask slips Harvey arrives, and the coincidence of his identity brings the conflict to a fever pitch. Helen forces a confrontation, demanding that her husband acknowledge his role in the systematic destruction of the laborer standing before him.

The hollow offer Harvey tries to buy his way out of the moral crisis, treating the man he crippled as a nuisance to be quieted. Jim refuses the charity, exposing the moral bankruptcy of the legal system and the company Harvey serves.

The final judgment Jim leaves the house, having taken no money but having effectively destroyed the couple's peace of mind. He leaves Harvey to face his wife’s righteous condemnation, marking the end of their innocence.

The People

Jim Faraday is a man who has lost everything: his sight, his family, and his belief in justice. He embodies the physical and psychological toll of industrial labor. He is neither a villain nor a hero, but a man who has been ground down by a system that views him as a disposable cog.

Harvey Austin represents the complicit professional. He is a "smooth-faced" lawyer who views his actions through the cold lens of business. He is not a monster in his own eyes, but he is fundamentally unable to feel the weight of the misery he manufactures, making him a chillingly effective tool for corporate interest.

Helen Austin undergoes the most radical transformation. She begins the night as a sheltered, elegant wife but ends it burdened by a crushing realization of her own culpability. She is the moral center of the play, the one who forces the truth into the light, though Jim reminds her that her status makes it difficult for her to truly escape the system she inhabits.

In Its Own Voice

"It’s the sort of thing you couldn't believe unless you saw it."

Jim describes the brutal, often fatal, conditions at the steel mill to Helen, emphasizing that his reality is invisible to those in power.

"You have to ride on our backs."

Jim explains to Helen why, despite her sympathy, she remains part of the same exploitative system that destroyed his life.

"I leave him to you."

As Jim departs, he tells Helen that he will not kill the man who ruined him, choosing instead to let her conscience serve as his ultimate punishment.

What It's Really About

The play is a direct indictment of corporate indifference and the legal machinery that protects profit at the expense of human life. It questions whether individuals can ever be truly "moral" while participating in an economy built on the exploitation of the poor. The central argument is that the lawyer's "business" is not merely a job but a form of violence. The play suggests that wealth acts as a blindfold, separating the comfortable from the consequences of their lifestyle, and that once that blindfold is removed, the resulting guilt is an inescapable, lifelong weight for those who realize they have been the beneficiaries of such cruelty.

Why Read It Today

Readers who appreciate sharp, dialogue-driven drama will find this play compelling. It feels like a precursor to modern social-realist works, cutting straight to the bone of class struggle. The prose is direct and unadorned, effectively capturing the stark contrast between the desperate, ragged speech of a man who has lost everything and the polished, defensive rhetoric of a man who has everything to lose.

However, readers should be prepared for the raw intensity of its subject matter. The play does not shy away from the horrific realities of early 20th-century industrial accidents, and the language reflects the period’s sometimes blunt, unsentimental approach to trauma. Some may find the dramatic coincidence of the meeting hard to swallow, but if you look past the artifice of the setup, the core question—what are we willing to ignore to maintain our way of life?—remains as uncomfortable and pertinent as it was a century ago. It is a short, stinging piece of theater that stays with you, not because of its plot twists, but because of the haunting, unresolved silence that hangs in the room long after the final curtain falls.