# The Apple explained — Short Fiction

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

## 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.

## Character check-ins

### 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 lines

> 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._

## Links

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