The Door in the Wall

“The Door in the Wall” is a short story by H.G. Wells in which a man by the name of Redmond retells a story that was told to him several months prior by his friend, Lionel Wallace. Redmond recalls how, while Lionel was telling him the story, he hung off every word and believed it to be true. The next morning, however, upon further reflection, Redmond decided it was nothing more than a fantastic tale invented by his friend and told very convincingly. He was impressed at how realistic a tale his friend managed to spin and his conviction while telling it. When he thinks back to that fateful night, he believes that either the story must be true or, at the very least, Lionel must be convinced himself that it is true in order to have told it in such a manner.

Lionel and Redmond met while attending St. Athelstan’s College in London together. Redmond describes himself as having been an average student, while Lionel was extremely successful in all of his academic endeavors. He was also a skilled politician, becoming a prominent cabinet member. However, Redmond recalls that Lionel was always reserved, and had a slightly detached quality. As it turns out, the man was harboring a secret, one that has haunted him his entire life.

Growing up, Lionel was a precocious child, raised in London’s West Kensington neighborhood. One day, when he was only five years old, he wandered away from his distant father and distracted governess. His mother had died when he was born. On his little adventure, he came across a green door in a white wall. He immediately felt drawn to the entrance and compelled by some strange force to walk through it. At the same time, he felt sure that to do so would be committing some kind of transgression, one that would certainly anger his father. He distracted himself by idling at some nearby shops, but unable to get the mysterious door out of his mind, he ran back to it and walked through.



On the other side of the door, Lionel emerged into a beautiful garden. He was immediately overcome with a sense of joy and well-being. It was as though his home in West Kensington had vanished. He immediately forgot about all of the duties and fears associated with his former life. He had the feeling that he had arrived in his true home, and that everything was as it should be in the world. Lionel is convinced that this magic garden is an entirely different world, separate from the one he left behind.

In the garden, he encounters two tame panthers, as well as a variety of other friendly animals. He also meets a girl who leads him down a tree-lined path. All the people he sees in the sprawling garden are happy, beautiful, and radiate love and acceptance. He feels totally at peace as he explores his new habitat, the elaborate fountains and palaces that exist within the garden.

He plays games with other children that please him very much, although afterward, he struggles to remember exactly what the games were. After the games, a solemn woman reads to him from a book that contained all the details of his life’s story. When they get to the part where Lionel is standing in front of the green door, Lionel finds that he is unable to turn the page, and suddenly he is back on the dismal street in West Kensington.



Lionel is returned to his father’s house by a policeman and is punished for telling lies. His books are taken away as his father believes that they only encourage his already overactive imagination. Wallace continues to think about the green door, passing it as a schoolboy on his way to school. He tells a boy at school the story of the secret garden, but no one believes him, and they accuse him of being a liar. Lionel is very hurt by this accusation, and it causes him to struggle in school.

The next time he sees the door, he is seventeen. He is on his way to Oxford in a cab and thinks about asking the driver to stop, but decides against it. He feels justified in choosing the real world over his imaginary garden, telling himself that he has made the right decision. Lionel goes on to be very successful in his career.

As Lionel grows older, his accomplishments begin to lose their allure, and he once again longs for the fantastic world beyond the green door. He feels regret at all the times that he passed by the door without walking through it.



A few months after hearing this story told to him by his friend, Redmond reads of Lionel’s death in the paper. Lionel has been found in a deep pit after having walked through a mistakenly unlocked door to a construction site.