The beautiful suit

The Beautiful Suit is a short story by H. G. Wells. Herbert George “H. G.” Wells (21 September 1866 – 13 August 1946) was an English writer, now best known for his work in the science fiction genre. He was also a prolific writer in many other genres, including contemporary novels, history, politics and social commentary, even writing textbooks and rules for war games. Wells is sometimes called “The Father of Science Fiction,” as are Jules Verne and Hugo Gernsback. His most notable science fiction works include The War of the Worlds, The Time Machine, The Invisible Man and The Island of Doctor Moreau. Wells’s earliest specialised training was in biology, and his thinking on ethical matters took place in a specifically and fundamentally Darwinian context. He was also from an early date an outspoken socialist, often (but not always, as at the beginning of the First World War) sympathising with pacifist views. Though he longs to “wear it everywhere”, the little man’s mother insists that he may wear his suit only “on rare and great occasions. It was his wedding-suit, she said.” She covers up various parts (buttons, cuffs, elbows, “and wherever the suit was most likely to come to harm”) to protect them. The little man wears it as such to church, but he is “full” of the “wild desire” to wear it free of “all these restrictions his mother set.”