In Fisher’s best-known short stories, which include “Miss Cynthie,” the author seems fascinated with how southern blacks who arrived in New York City during the Great Migration of the early part of the twentieth century were, for the most part, ill equipped to deal with the city’s sophistication and fast-paced life. Although for most of these characters the city failed to reveal itself as the proverbial “Promised Land,” Miss Cynthie seems to challenge Fisher’s typical southern character in that she possesses a keen wit and much wholesome, old-fashioned wisdom that characterize her as being able to handle herself in the city. Furthermore, the fact that she fares well during her stay and has several life-affirming experiences while there demonstrate that her visit to the city has been an edifying experience. Her naïveté notwithstanding, Miss Cynthie is presented as a character with spunk, one from whom Dave Tappen, her grandson, has obviously learned his lessons well.

Similarly, Miss Cynthie is an example of the grandmother figure who appears in several of Fisher’s stories. These characters are presented as strong, enduring, often long-suffering women who struggle to pass on their sense of the sanctity of life to their second-generation offspring. In the case of Miss Cynthie, she has raised Dave from infancy and has sought to endow him with the virtues of good, clean, moral living. She is, then, understandably disappointed with his involvement with the theater. However, although Dave has not landed in one of the professions that she wished for him, Miss Cynthie comes to realize during his moving testimonial to her at the close of the show that her lessons were well learned and that her hopes were not misspent. Dave has indeed followed Miss Cynthie’s admonition to “do like a church steeple—aim high and go straight,” and for that, he has achieved stunning success.

Another theme common to Fisher’s fiction that is found in “Miss Cynthie” is the focus on life in black Harlem during the 1920’s. Although Fisher is frequently noted for pointing out the vice and nightlife of Jazz Age Harlem and the sordidness and corruption of city life, his portrayal of Harlem in “Miss Cynthie” is more a celebration of the best of Harlem. As Dave drives Miss Cynthie through Harlem on her arrival, for example, he is careful to point out the best the city has to offer—the throngs of well-dressed blacks enjoying a leisurely summer day, the numerous handsome edifices owned by blacks, and the several manifestations of his own affluence. Absent are the elements of the lowlife that often are integral to Fisher’s short stories. Although a departure from Fisher’s norm, the portraiture in “Miss Cynthie” is nevertheless presented with power equal to, if not exceeding, his other stories.