Short Fiction · Chapter
The Apple explained
Mr.
What happens
Mr. Hinchcliff, a newly matriculated student traveling to his teaching post at Holmwood Grammar School, meets a mysterious stranger in a train carriage. The stranger claims to possess the actual Apple of the Tree of Knowledge, obtained from an Armenian refugee who found it near the legendary Eden. After a tense philosophical exchange about the burdens of knowledge, the stranger forces the fruit into Mr. Hinchcliff's hands as the train departs, leaving him bewildered and clutching the glowing fruit.
Themes in this chapter
Artifice vs. Authenticity
The stranger's tale of the Forbidden Fruit blurs the line between fable and reality, challenging Mr. Hinchcliff's rational worldview and questioning the authenticity of knowledge itself.
Ambition and Failure
Mr. Hinchcliff's pride in his academic achievements contrasts with the stranger's fear that total knowledge would lead to disillusionment and the collapse of personal illusions.
Characters to notice
- Mr. Hinchcliff
A young man who has just matriculated at London University and is on his way to become junior assistant at Holmwood Grammar School. He is initially proud of his academic position, then becomes confused and unsettled by the stranger's tale.
- Mr. Clarence
The unnamed stranger in the carriage who claims to possess the Apple of the Tree of Knowledge. He is tall, dark, sunburnt, with pale face and dark-grey eyes, and speaks earnestly about the burden of forbidden knowledge.
Key passages
“Suppose you saw into the hearts and minds of everyone about you, into their most secret recesses—people you loved, whose love you valued?”
Imagine if you could see the hidden thoughts and feelings of those you care about.
The stranger warns that absolute knowledge might destroy personal relationships.
“It never fades. I have had it now three months. And it is ever bright and smooth and ripe and desirable, as you see it.”
The fruit remains perfectly fresh and glowing, unchanged after three months.
The stranger uses the fruit's supernatural preservation as evidence of its divine origin.