# IV explained — Short Fiction

> Chapter companion for Short Fiction by H. G. Wells.

## What happens

Davidson begins to recover his sight after three weeks in a strange state, seeing a phantasmal world while blind to reality. His vision gradually returns, allowing him to see the real world through translucent gaps in the phantom world. He becomes interested in the fading island and penguins, eventually losing the vision entirely after marrying the narrator's sister.

## Character check-ins

### Sidney Davidson

Recovering his sight after three weeks of seeing a phantom world; gradually loses the vision after marrying the narrator's sister.

## Key lines

> He can see his thumb!

Davidson's father excitedly announces that his son is regaining his sight.

_Marks the beginning of Davidson's recovery._

> It's like a hole in this infernal phantom world.

Davidson describes the real world appearing as a gap in the illusory one.

_Illustrates the overlapping of the two worlds._

> He wanted particularly to go down into the deep sea again, and would spend half his time wandering about the low-lying parts of London, trying to find the waterlogged wreck he had seen drifting.

Davidson becomes obsessed with revisiting the phantom underwater wreck he saw.

_Shows his lingering attachment to the vision._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_25_se/chapters/iv
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_25_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_25_se/chapters