THE DOOR IN THE WALL

This paper examines H.G. WellÆs short story The Door in the Wall (see: Wells, 2003, Reprint edition) from a biographic perspective. The paper describes the plot and main themes of the story and relates these to the events, circumstances, and relationships that shaped WellÆs life. The paper ends with commentaries related to the nature of the man and also presents a personal opinion about H.G. Wells.

The Door in the Wall: Essential Themes in Relation To The Life of H. G. Wells

Simply put, in the story The Door in the Wall, the reader is told about a promising public figure, a friend of the narrator named Lionel Wallace, who reveals to the narrator that there is a door that leads into an enchanted garden. When he was very young, Wallace found this door, and spotting the garden beyond it, ran directly through the entrance. There in the garden, he experienced great joy, magic, and wonder. Indeed, of this experience, Wallace states::

There was something in the very air of it that exhilarated, that gave one a sense of lightness and good happening and well being; there was something in the sight of it that made all its colour clean and perfect and subtly luminous. In the instant of coming into it one was exquisitely glad--as only in rare moments and when one is young and joyful one can be glad in this world. And everything was beautiful there . .

In comparison to the foregoing, the regu

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e concern for mankind and deep desire for human welfare, lead him to join the Fabian Society in 1903, by 1911, he had grown disillusioned with this society and quarreled with its leaders including George Bernard Shaw. He was also dissatisfied with his marriage and soon became involved in a love affair with a young journalist, Rebecca West, who was 26 years younger than him. There relationship was heated and difficult, so much so that their son Anthony West would day write about it in Aspects of a Life. Thus, it seems reasonable to state that in the character of Lionel Wallace, to at least some extent, Wells was writing about himself and his feelings of dissatisfaction and disillusionment despite his prestige, great achievements and fame. He, like Wallace, attained greater and greater fame and prestige as his life went on. Also like Wallace, Wells had not walked through the door in the wall which is to say that he had not seen his Utopian society come to pass. Further, in a few short years after writing this story, he would be forced to witness the opposite of Utopia as the world plunged into a global war. Still another theme in The Door in the Wall is that of conflict between love and honor. Many people have in them at le
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Door Wall, Lionel Wallace, Smith WellsÆ, Ramsay McDonald, Nanny Stateö, Kensington Station, Fabian Society, Cabinet Minister, Costa WellsÆ, Smith Utopian, door wall, smith 1986, story door, story door wall, enchanted garden, obligations responsibilities, lionel wallace, brome 1970, reprint edition, door wall seen, rationality collaboration, future future, george bernard shaw, including george bernard, wallaceÆs enchanted garden,
Approximate Word count = 2542
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page)

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