The Treasure In The Forest by H.G. Wells, 1894
The magic trick:
Transcending the troubling views of its time by commenting on those troubling views
Reading this story in 2024, you’ll probably wince when you see the first signs of blatant imperialist racism. Are those the sentiments of the character or the author? Do we chalk it up to times? This was published, after all, in 1894 England. That’s probably less about H.G. Wells then and more about the prevalent views of his time and place, right?
Don’t worry. You can stop tying yourself up in mental knots. The blatant imperialist racism isn’t an accident. It’s there on purpose. Turns out it’s the story’s central theme.
And that’s quite a trick on Wells’s part.
The selection:
Evans sat with his eyes half closed, watching the frothy breakwater of the coral creep nearer and nearer. The sky was like a furnace, for the sun was near the zenith. Though they were so near the Treasure he did not feel the exaltation he had anticipated. The intense excitement of the struggle for the plan, and the long night voyage from the mainland in the unprovisioned canoe had, to use his own expression, “taken it out of him.” He tried to arouse himself by directing his mind to the ingots the Chinamen had spoken of, but it would not rest there; it came back headlong to the thought of sweet water rippling in the river, and to the almost unendurable dryness of his lips and throat. The rhythmic wash of the sea upon the reef was becoming audible now, and it had a pleasant sound in his ears; the water washed along the side of the canoe, and the paddle dripped between each stroke. Presently he began to doze.
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