The Country of the Blind Analysis
The Country of the Blind is a short story which has been written by H.G Wells. In this piece, The Country of the Blind analysis has been discussed. So, its main analytical elements are:
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Themes:
Two main and interconnected themes in The Country of the Blind are disability and isolation. These themes are explained one by one below.
Disability:
The disability appears in two forms in the story. Firstly, as it happens in real life and stories as well, the disability of someone becomes a cause of his/ her low rank in society due to others’ opinion. The opinion is that disabled people are inferior to non-disabled people. This biased concept is shown by the behaviour of both blind people and Nunez. For example, the blind persons considered Nunez inferior to them because he was unable to perform activities like them. As an instance, Nunez could not sleep during the day and work during the night properly. On the other hand, Nunez also considered blind persons inferior to him because of their blindness and wanted to rule their land because of his sight. Therefore, he used to recall a relevant proverb as well, “In the country of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.”.
Isolation:
In the tale, isolation is prevalent in the story for Nunez as well as the blind persons. When Nunez had to spend his days with the blind people, he felt isolated because they did not accept him as a member of their society and treated him as a minor creature. The Country of the Blind is that area in the tale which is separate from the rest of the world due to bad circumstances caused by nature. A great wall of rocks separated that land from the outside world which came into existence due to a very powerful earthquake followed by landslides and sudden floods. So, the citizens of that region are separated in this story as well.
Irony:
There are various examples of situations which express appearance versus reality in the short story. Some examples are:
When Nunez (the mountaineer) entered into the country of the blind people, then he thought that he could explain sight to these blind individuals, but it did not happen because they did not experience sight before. Also, they did not want to accept the power of sight which they did not have. So, they thought him to be a mentally ill person.
Likewise, when Nunez got angry due to the blind person’s constant laughing over his arguments, then he tried to hit that man with a spade, but he could not do that because the blind man had heard him lifting the spade. That happened because the ears of the blind persons were very sensitive to sounds around them.
Also, when Medina continued listening to Nunez’ talks about the external world and sight with interest, then Nunez thought that she believed in his talks. However, she considered his talks as the part of his imagination which disclosed in front of him during the second last part of the story.
Genre:
The story is an adventurous story.
Tone and style:
Its style is narrative and descriptive, and the tone is serious and logical.
Symbolism:
Nunez is a symbol of greed for power because he wanted to rule the land of the blind people as their king and master through his sight. On the other hand, the blind people are a symbol of ignorance because they did not believe Nunez’ talks about sight and the outer world for having some unfair attachment to what they already knew about everything. Another reason is that they treated him as some inferior being after considering him disabled due to their ignorant attitude.
Conclusion:
The Country of the Blind is a moralistic story. The moral lesson is that human beings must analyze some differences logically for getting developmental changes in their society. If the blind people had performed some logical analysis for judging Nunez’ talks, then they might have treated their eyes by getting some guidance to come out of the valley and being treated by the doctors of the outside world through his help. However, they did not do that because of their ignorant nature.
That's all what I wanted to share with you about The Country of the Blind analysis. Thanks for being here. And do subscribe my blog for more updates.