The Door In The Wall
Written by H. G. Wells
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“The Door In The Wall” is a scifi, short story written by a parent of the genre, Mr. H. G. Wells himself. He wrote many short stories and this is one of his more peculiar ones. Of course, some of the other parents of the scifi genre are Jules Verne, Mary Shelley etc. The short story was part of a collection of 33 of his stories he published in 1911 under the name of The Country Of The Blind And Other Stories.

“The Door In The Wall” The Literary Network

“The Door In The Wall” Project Gutenberg webpage

“The Door In The Wall” is the story of Lionel Wallace as told through the eyes of the narrator who was a school mate of his. Lionel Wallace was a successful politician who could not stop thinking about a childhood experience where he found a garden paradise through a door in the wall where he felt he belonged in. That feeling never leaves him and haunts his every thought hence forward. And since access to this garden paradise can only be reached through a certain door in a wall that may pop up anywhere he spends his life thinking about it and hoping to find it again. The door in the wall does appear to him several times over the years but he is unable or unwilling to step through it. Finally, one day, Lionel disappears. I won’t give away any spoilers because the ending is good, as is the case in most H. G. Wells books and stories.

This story touches on so many story elements that suck the reader in. The author is very, very good at sucking readers in, even modern day readers. He does this firstly with his imagination and ideas. H. G. Wells’ imagination and ideas aren’t necessarily new to us in the modern age but they are well presented and for the people some 150 years ago it must have been the cutting edge of human imagination. I could easily see people from 150 years ago running into friends or acquaintances on the street and spreading the news of a strange story they read. It reminds me of when alien encounter or government conspiracies first appeared online on platforms like Youtube and how everyone started sharing them and talking about them in disbelief. We now know that most of those alien encounter and government conspiracy videos and interviews were fake but at the time it was all the rage. Now, of course H. G. Wells never claims his stories were true. He just dazzled us with his feats of the imagination. The mystery in this story is how much of Lionel’s story is true? The narrator seems to believe Lionel or at least think that Lionel believes he is telling the truth. Another question is about the door in the wall. What is the door in the wall and where does it come from? We the reader really want to find out more about the mystery that is this door in the wall.

Another part of the story I found interesting was Lionel craving to belong somewhere and that the paradise garden was that place. Here is a successful man with a great career and who is well established in his community and society. You’d think he’d be happy or at least content but he doesn’t really want any of the things he’s worked for.

This is a great story that doesn’t answer all questions at the end but makes that doubt and ignorance a somewhat satisfying end to a strange story.

I liked it a lot but I’m still scratching my head with the ending. H. G. Wells himself wanted it that way.

John Ink2Quill

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