The land of the blind
The country of the blind (English original title The Country of the Blind ) is a short story by HG Wells . It first appeared in a 1904 issue of Strand Magazine . The first book publication followed in 1911 in the volume The Country of the Blind and other Stories . In 1939 a revised version was published in a further collection of short stories.
content
Mountaineer Nunez falls in the Andes into an unknown valley. Little by little he realizes that this is the legendary "land of the blind". Centuries ago people settled here who were cut off from the outside world a short time later by an earthquake. Little by little , probably due to an illness, all residents go blind , and the children are all born blind and with empty eye sockets. Nunez enters the valley 14 generations after the last sighted one dies; every memory of seeing and of the outside world is obliterated. Nunez now believes that he can make himself the ruler and teacher of the people, but fails because the residents are at least equal to him through their experience of life in the valley and the extreme sharpening of the other senses. The residents consider him insane and force him to do low-level work until he "admits" that he only imagined seeing and pretends to adopt the blind's limited worldview. He falls in love with Medina-saroté, his master's daughter, but refuses to consent to the wedding. One of the village elders, the medicine man, believes that he has recognized the reason for Nunez's confusion: the unusual "swellings" in his face (eyes) irritate his brain, making him unable to think clearly. By removing his eyes he can become a full, healthy member of the community and marry. He agrees, but then decides to try to escape over the mountains. He reaches the ridge and lies down when night falls, happy to have escaped the valley of the blind. That ends the story. In the revised edition from 1939, Nunez recognizes a landslide threatening the valley on his escape. When he tries to warn the inhabitants of the valley of the impending disaster, he is mocked again. He can get himself and Medina-saroté to safety during the landslide and leave the valley.
Characterizations
Nunez
Nunez is described as a young man who has seen much of the world and is characterized by courage, ambition and enterprise. It is suggested that he is taller and stronger than the blind. If offended, his self-esteem can grow to arrogance, which can lead to irrational acts and even violence. However, even then he is not unscrupulous, but recognizes the limits of civilization. So he (initially) has great inhibitions about beating a blind man.
Medina-saroté
Outwardly, Medina-saroté differs significantly from all other blind people: She is the one who is most similar to the people outside the valley and does not correspond at all to the ideal of beauty of the blind. Therefore, like Nunez, she is an outsider. She is emotionally and spiritually more open, also to Nunez's reports about the outside world. However, she is also decisively shaped by her culture and everyday life in the village: She respects the decisions of her father and the elders and does not question them. During the crucial discussion with Nunez about the possibility of an eye removal, she is hesitant. On the one hand she trusts the council of elders and would like to persuade Nunez, on the other hand she does not dare to openly express her request, but only hints at it. She seems shy, level-headed, but also passive.
Ratio of the sexes
Nunez and Medina-saroté represent the traditional gender image of the time. He represents the male ideal of courage and determination, she is very emotional, reserved and completely leaves the decision about the operation to Nunez. In a certain way she changes directly from the father's sphere of influence to that of the betrothed. It is also noticeable that she is the only woman in history; even she doesn't seem to have a mother. The council of elders is only made up of men, and the shepherds and farmers who find Nunez at the beginning and later try to catch are men too. Even if social life is only sketched out, it becomes clear that women play no role in it. The initiation of the wedding confirms this: Nunez asks the father for Medina-saroté's hand, who has the power to decide. Medina-saroté reacts in a traditionally feminine way: it is not arguments or even threats that convince the father to reconsider the matter, but rather her tears.
style
The narrator first introduces the reader to the legend of the land of the blind, in a slightly mythical-fairytale tone. But this immediately changes to a more realistic representation when Nunez is introduced, i.e. exactly at the time jump from the prehistory to the actual plot. The description of nature tends to transfigure the valley as locus amoenus , while the village and the people are described more factually. The narrowness and repression in the community of the blind are contrasted and reinforced by the idyllic beauty of nature, which they cannot perceive.
Narrative perspective
The beginning of the story is conveyed by an authoritative narrator who looks back on what happened at a later time. First, the reader learns the prehistory, i.e. the legend of the legendary land of the blind. Then the focus narrows to the climbers and the day of the fall. The narrator still shows his knowledge advantage in front of the characters. But then the narrator binds himself to Nunez's impressions; he is the focal figure from whose point of view the valley is described to the reader. This world is unknown to Nunez and the reader alike, and both must now explore it “together”. In the further course of the story, there is a switch between authorial and personal narration , whereby the narrator often comes very close to the focal figure, but never becomes completely congruent with it. The language also does not adapt to the style of the figure; the narrator never disappears into his stream of speech or thought, but remains relatively neutral.
Subject
In this story, Wells outlines a very complex social problem situation through the clash of two cultures. Nunez feels superior through his eyesight and therefore believes he can make himself king. Behind it lies the same mindset as behind the colonial aspirations of European nations in the early 20th century, which are criticized here. However, the aggressive conqueror does not simply face the helpless, "uncivilized" victims here. Instead, the ideal world of the blind turns out to be a state of order with totalitarian features. Everyone fits into society, the council of elders determines everything, and the stranger is seen as moronic and forced to do hard labor. Wells shows how misunderstanding and cultural chauvinism can give rise to prejudices and images of the enemy. This tendency to intolerance and demarcation to the outside world is presented as a culture-independent human characteristic, since it is also present in the completely isolated blind culture.
Another focus is on Nunez's social integration into the blind society. Their commandments, z. For example, adapting to a reversed day-night rhythm and being content with the narrow basin of their “world” is not initially possible for the freedom-loving, urbane man. So he revolted and flees. Only after the failure of his rebellion does he bow to the majority and even acknowledge the limited worldview of the blind, as if his defeat had caused a kind of “ brainwashing ”. Wells illustrates here how homogeneous societies are formed in totalitarian states: Social integration is a primary human need; their refusal is the punishment for expressing a dissenting opinion. But Nunez has to recognize that despite the problems that social life brings with it, man alone is defenseless and helpless.
This rather pessimistic image of man - socially adapted and incomprehensible to strangers - is broken by the end of the story. Nunez shows himself to be a subject who thinks and acts freely until death. His final escape shows that despite the social humiliation and the temporary restriction of his freedom of choice through his love for Medina-saroté, an insatiable will to live and freedom has survived in him, which rises to the greatest strength at the moment of his threatened annihilation.
filming
The story was filmed in 1976 by Pete Ariel under the title The Land of the Blind or From one who moved out .
literature
- Bernard Bergonzi: The Early HG Wells: A Study of the Scientific Romances . Manchester University Press, Manchester 1961.
- Alex Boulton: Alex Boulton, 'The Myth of the New Found Land in HG Wells's “The Country of the Blind” . In: The Wellsian , 18, 1995, pp. 5-18.
- Mercedes Peñalba García: “My World is Sight”: HG Wells's Anti-utopian Imagination in “The Country of the Blind” . In: Epos: Revista de filología , 31, 2015, pp. 475–484.
- Richard Gerber: HG Wells: 'The Country of the Blind' . In: Karl-Heinz Göller, Gerhard Hoffmann (ed.): The English short story . August Bagel, Düsseldorf 1973, pp. 98-108.
- JR Hammond: An HG Wells Companion: A Guide to the Novels, Romances and Short Stories . Macmillan, London 1979.
- John Huntington: The Logic of Fantasy: HG Wells and Science Fiction . Columbia University Press, New York 1982.
- Patrick Parrinder: Wells's Canceled Endings for “The Country of the Blind”. In: Science Fiction Studies , 17: 1, 1990, pp. 71-76.
- Terry W. Thompson: 'I come from the great world': Imperialism as Theme in Wells's The Country of the Blind. In: English Language Notes , 42: 1, 2004, pp. 65-75.
- Terry W. Thompson: Exterminating Brutes: Subjugation as Subtext in HG Wells's “The Country of the Blind” . In: South Carolina Review , 43: 2, pp. 137-144.
- Terry W. Thompson: Channeling Balboa in HG Wells' The Country of the Blind: A Contrary Reading. In: Midwest Quarterly , 56: 3, 2015, pp. 217-228.
