Полный текст:
The title
Pre-reading expectations
I have decided to read the story "The country of the blind" by H.G. Wells.
The story title is intriguing and controversial.
As far as the plot and the genre are concerned I expect the story to be mystical and fantastic. I suppose it tells about relationships among people in a made-up remote country but it itself is rather developed. I believe the people there are not likely to be really blind. But if they are it may be a symbol of 'mental blindness' of the people in general.
I expect the story to describe a short period of the country's residents' lives. It may be connected with a family or with the life of one person. I suppose the story to describe their way of life and to tell about some special occasions.
I think there should be a lot of symbols in the story and we should confront the phenomena of the country with the real world.
I believe that there may be different levels of understanding the title. Certainly, it is symbolic and metaphorical. First of all, I suppose the author to mean the whole world by saying the country. So the blind are people in general, i.e. every person may belong to the group.
The first way of understanding the title is that people behave as if they were blind. They cannot and even do not want to see anything happening in the world around. They are reserved and selfish. They just do not want to take notice of other people's feelings and wishes.
The word blind also may mean that people are not able to understand others. Physically blind people are deprived of the capacity to see, they just are not able to do that. So H.G. Wells probably means that people are not and will not be able to perceive other people's actions and thoughts even if they want to.
The title may also be ironic and sarcastic. In that case we should understand the word blind conversely. So the author means that people want to know everything. They notice everything happening in other people's lives. And, of course, they are able to see that.
Anyway, I expect the story to deal with the problems of understanding people, their establishing relationships and other related issues. I do not exclude that the story may be connected with some political matters.
Post-reading analysis
Having read the story, I can say that the title conveys the major meaning of the story.
Firstly, I would like to say that the country is a symbol of the whole world, so the blind are real people, people on the whole.
As I expected the story is connected with the problems of misunderstanding. The inhabitants of the valley are blind, what symbolizes that people in general cannot and do not want to understand others. I would like to draw attention to the fact that these people do not want to comprehend others rather then they are not able to. I suppose they just do not want to live another way because when Nunez came to them and began to tell about sight, they just did not want to listen to him and ignored all that Nunez told them.
So the country of the blind means that on the one hand people do not understand others, they are rather selfish and reserved. They have their own views and beliefs that make it almost impossible to perceive other people's feelings. On the other hand they are blind because they do not see anything else in the world. They do not want to accept something new and more rational. I suppose the author to mean that people do not see anything complicated and they are unwilling to recognize some other things and concepts that would make their life more complex.
To sum up, H.G. Wells chose a rather uncomplicated and straightforward title that provides insight into the story problem.
2. Intonation, atmosphere, mood.
The narrator of the story is the author himself. It should be noticed that the storyteller appears just at the beginning of the story, when he finishes telling the legend about the valley itself and turns to the Nunez's coming into the country of the blind. I think that by introducing himself the author tries to communicate with a reader. I assume that the device makes the story more realistic and trustworthy.
As for the author's attitude to the different issues, he is rather impartial and does not show straightforwardly his attitude to the subject. It is rather difficult to understand his thoughts about the characters and the problems of the story. Nevertheless, H.G. Wells creates a specific atmosphere and writes in a peculiar style.
When reading the story, I was absorbed with it and certain impression and thoughts appeared. Reading different parts of the story I had unlike feelings that appeared mechanically. The author uses certain devices to create the special atmosphere of what is happening in the story.
This way, the legend about the country, at the very beginning of the story, is told in a more depressive way. The author needs to picture a certain image of the valley, to describe the inhabitants' way of life, the population itself etc. Another difficult point of the story was to make readers realise that those people were really blind, to make that fact more realistic. So the beginning and the middle of the story create an uncertain, vague and colourless atmosphere. Everything in the valley seems to be hazy and lifeless. At the very beginning of the story the situation seems even miserable and depressive.
How does the author create such an effect? Firstly, I have not noticed any words meaning that those people were really happy. In fact there is nothing to be happy about and a reader cannot share some positive feelings. The author does not use any certain phrases indicating that those blind people are content. Secondly, H.G. Wells does not use any positive or expressive words. He prefers to use neutral phrases, just describing the situation. The valley itself is described in gloomy, dark colours. There are no such colours as yellow, white or blue. Even Nunez noticed at once that the houses of the valley were too clumsy and graceless. Moreover, there are some other features that make the country lifeless. There are just straight streets and roads but not natural scenery. To give one more example, the inhabitants of the valley sleep in the daytime and work at night.
The end of the story, on the contrary, seems to be brighter. When Nunez falls in love with Medina-sarote, it is the first time the author uses some beautiful and positive words. He begins to describe the beauty of the girl and the world around. The world seems to be more diverse and colourful. I think that this all is very symbolic and 'darkness' and ignorance of the blind is opposed to knowledge and perception of beauty and some other important things.
So the linguistic style and the atmosphere change from one part of the story to another. And each time H.G. Wells presents the right and direct atmosphere connected with the plot and meaning of the story.
3. The plot.
From my point of view the plot of the story fully expresses its meaning and ideas. Most attention is focused not on the action itself but on the philosophical idea of the story. So the story proceeds slowly and rather measured.
The story begins with the narrating of the history of the country. The beginning of the story is rather neutral and it gives an idea of the people and the country. The action develops steadily but special attention is given to the fact that the population of the country is blind. This all is a legend that had been told to the author. Some time later the storyteller turns to the action itself.
The story tells us about Nunez, a man that fell to the country by accident and then had to deal with the blind people, the inhabitants of the valley. The story is about their relationships that were complicated and tense.
The action strains more and more and one of the most exciting and important moments is the act with spades when Nunez tries to rebel but nothing good comes out of it. Then the anxiety and tension fade away again and everything goes at its own pace. But something is changing in the story. When Nunez falls in love with Medina-sarote the story is becoming easier to perceive. The story is more beautiful and even lighter. But suddenly everything goes wrong and the most dreadful moment comes. I mean the moment when the valley's residents decided to remove Nunez's eyes. That is the culmination of the story. The time when there appears a choice between love and sight, i.e. beauty, ability to understand and realise some really important matters of life.
But Nunez decided at first to stay with his beloved, i.e. he agreed on the operation. He was almost ready to do that. But suddenly he decides to escape from the valley. I think that the author made Nunez change his mind to show readers the whole situation. There are some alternatives of rising action and both symbolize different things. So a reader is given an impression of both variants and s/he has a chance to analyse the situation.
The story ends when Nunez escaped. I believe Nunez has a chance to come back to the civilization and live there. I suppose the author to mean such an end. Yet there is a possibility of not surviving in the mountains.
4. Co-writing the story.
The story ends rather symbolically. As I have already said Nunez preferred sight to his feelings. It means that if he had chosen to stay with his beloved he would probably have suffered in the valley…
So Nunez returned home. Firstly everything was good and he seemed to be completely happy. But some time later he realised that there was some kind of a gap between him and the society. The point was that he was always comparing this world with the country of the blind. Sometimes it seemed to him that if the valley residents were blind physically people in the 'normal' world were blind mentally. The difference was that sighted people used their ability with dreadful aims.
Suddenly Nunez began to understand that he used to be like them. When living with the blind people he tried to use his power against them. But now everything seemed to be different. His attitude to life and people changed.
When differentiating those two societies he understood that people in the valley were even a bit happier. Their life was calm and quiet, they were cohesive and organized, and they were able to understand each other. But the country where he returned was full of misunderstanding and selfishness. People's souls were completely blind. The only important difference between those pitiable societies was that the blind people could have been survived. "In the Country of the Blind the One-eyed Man is King"...
Nunez returned to the valley, to his beloved. And he decided to get his eyes removed so that he could live with Medina-sarote. Anyway, he knew how important the ability to see was…
Some time later he got used to the new world. Now he lived as other blind people, his senses had changed and his sufferings faded away. Nunez felt that he became wiser, and the population of the valley began to respect him.
But the most important thing was that Nunez's children were able to see. When he understood that, he was happy and seemed to be really content. The rest of the valley residents realised that those children were different. At first they wanted to expel the whole family but they still doubted. They understood that Nunez's children were much more cheerful than their ones. Moreover, Nunez seemed to be really clever and more knowledgeable than they were. Consequently, they allowed Nunez to stay with them.
Some time later Nunez became a leader of the valley. The blind people trusted and respected him. As the old people had already died there was a new, young generation. They listened to what Nunez told them about the world around and they marveled at Nunez's children.
So their mentality had changed, and they became more intelligent and smarter. Their life now was full of happiness and pleasure. And the world around seemed to be colourful and brighter, though they could not see anything, only perceive. And Nunez had changed at the same time with them, understanding that there are many other ways to become a king but not just using violence.
5. Cultural issues.
From my point of view, there are no cultural issues connected with England. H.G. Wells tells us about an invented country, meaning the whole world and people in general. I do not believe that the story deals with Britain somehow.
However, at the beginning of the story I had some feelings connected with Britain. When telling about the valley it appeared to be isolated as Britain geographically is. Moreover, the weather in the country also reminds of Britain.
6. Associations.
When reading the story a lot of associations came to my mind. I suppose the genre and the form of the story to be quite popular in the world literature. However, the idea and the meaning of the story seem to be peculiar and unusual.
Associations:
§ 'Gulliver's Travels'
The first association coming to my mind is connected with J. Swift's 'Gulliver's Travels'. The work describes some invented countries and societies there. Like this work 'The country of the blind' tells about an unreal society. Both works are written to be correlated with the real world.
§ 'The Lord of the Ring'
Another association is connected with J.R.R. Tolkien and his work 'The Lord of the Ring'. But this association is connected most likely not with the philosophy of the novel itself but with the unreality and impossibility of the country's existing.
§ Anti-/utopias
The story is also associated with utopias. What does remind of them is that the country of the blind is unreal and made up and it illustrates the country's inhabitants and their mentality.
In my view, the story may be considered both as utopia and anti-utopia. I mean that from the valley residents' point of view, their society is ideal. They do not seem to be willing to change their organization; they are quite happy and content. So the story may be seen as a utopia. But from the readers' point of view their culture and their way of life may seem imperfect and defective. From this site the story is to be seen as anti-utopia.
7. Commentaries.
As I have already mentioned the story is very symbolic. The main idea of the story is clear to me. Still, there are some moments which are difficult to understand.
The first thing that is difficult for me to understand is the role of religion. The legend about the country tells that the valley inhabitants thought the reason for their becoming blind was that they did not have any temple. So they wanted to invite some priests from the outer world and they believed that faith would help them to avoid blindness. But the man who was sent to find priests was not able to return home because of misfortune.
As people were becoming blind their philosophy and mentality were changing. So they had their own vision of the world. And they created their own religion. But the point was that they did not want to accept anything that contradicted their philosophy. For example, they believed that there was no sky with stars, but just something like a roof above. When Nunez described them the real sky they did not want to perceive the information and did not believe him.
Thus the situation is very controversial. On the one hand religion is shown as a mean of people's recovery. On the other hand, people are bound by religion and their mentality is too restricted. Their mentality does not allow them to see something more in the world, people cannot think otherwise.
From my point of view, this all should be connected with the real world. As I understand, it is meant that religions often forbid people to think as they want to. They just cannot act according to their wishes.
There is also another point that I have noticed. In my view, the people's becoming blind can be correlated with the spread of religion, in particular, Christianity. I suppose that H.G. meant that as Christianity spread the people were becoming blinder, i.e. the Church made them just believe without people's understanding of the faith and other important things.
I would also like to pay attention to the valley's domestic animals, llamas. I suppose H.G. Wells to have chosen them intentionally. Llamas are known to be calm and peaceful animals so they go with the valley's measured life.