Running head: THE COUNTRY OF THE BLIND PYSCHOLOGY ANALYSIS

The Country of The Blind Psychology Analysis

Abby Schmidt
University Alaska Fairbanks

Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to explain and elaborate on the short story, The Country of The

THE COUNTRY OF THE BLIND PSYCHOLOGY ANALYSIS

Blind. It is to explain ones personal views and emotions towards the short story as well as what
is truly happening in the short story. There are also three psychological concepts distinguished in
this short story. Those being; thinking and intelligence, learning and cognitive schema, and body
and mental states. These concepts are supported through other views and psychological analysis.

Keywords; emotion, The Country of The Blind, personal, analysis

Summary

THE COUNTRY OF THE BLIND PSYCHOLOGY ANALYSIS

The Country of The Blind, by Herbert George Wells, is a short story about a mountain
climber who falls off into a strange and isolated world which is inhabited by blind people who
claim to have been in existence for about 15 generations and cut off from the rest of the world by
an earthquake in the early years of founding. The mountain climbers name is Nunez. He
remembers an old rhyme and comes to the conclusion, In the Country of the Blind, the One-eyed Man is
King. He thinks he has an advantage. However, his attitude seems wrong in a society that does not know the
meaning of the word see and still functions well, effectively and happily with their senses. Throughout the
story he begins to learn how to live with his disability- his sight. Nunez falls in love with one of the women
from the village, and wishes to marry her. He gets permission to do so but only if he is willing to abandon his
eyes and have them removed. Nunez then finally makes the decision to choose between his love and his sight.

The Country of The Blind is a story that is an inversion of the thought of inability which reveals to us that
the circumstances alone characterize the word disability. The experience of being an outsider is by all accounts
the significant purpose of this short story. The blind people are the descendants of a group of settlers in this
fertile valley, who were struck by a disease which eventually left them all blind and, in the end, completely
eyeless. The mountaineer first thinks he has an advantage over the blind people, remembering an old phrase:
In The Country of The Blind, the One-Eyed Man is King(Wells), but his advantage turns out to be in fact a
disadvantage. This does not happen without reason. The desire for power that Nunez displays is brought about
by his humbling assessment of the blind villagers. (Cohen) As he tries to pursue authority over the village, he

THE COUNTRY OF THE BLIND PSYCHOLOGY ANALYSIS

finds that the villagers are hardly his inferiors as he is unable to convince them of his fifth sense. Subsequently,
by immediately judging them to be his other, he had disabled himself. There also are 3 psychological concepts
perceived in the short story. These concepts are thinking and intelligence, learning and cognition, and body and
mental states.
This may appear like the occasions in the life of a barbarous and selfish man, however we are all
blameworthy of the minimization that Nunez delivers. We think that it hard to imagine that if we somehow
managed to discover a place where there is visually impaired individuals, that we would be bested by them,
over a long period of time. Furthermore, this same intuition happens for any incapacity one can credit to a
separated society. (Jones 2002) We have a tendency to think about the incapacitated as short of what us in at
any rate some angle that their incapacity ruins. This sort of elite intuition estranges them. When we see the
story through these eyes, we can't resist the opportunity to recognize that, when Nunez does not get to be ruler
of the visually impaired, the individuals who we are so speedy to criticize as the other are indeed, a long way
from it. Furthermore, it is at this acknowledgment that we must venture back, in affirmation of our own
desires, and permit the odd to reveal to us our self. Notwithstanding, the utilization of the odd in The Country
of the Blind is vital in investigating the doubles and moves in Nunez's character, and where the incapacitated
become alright in the public arena.
Thinking And Intelligence
This is one of the three psychological concepts brought into the short story.One of the ways this is
perceived in the short story is by dialectical thinking. Dialectal thinking is a process in which opposing facts or
ideas are weighed and compared, with a view to determining the best solution or resolving differences. This is
shown when Nunez is trying to decide between his love and his eye sight.
Body and Mental States
Another concept is body and mental states. More specifically the concept of being on a drug of some sort
thus messing with ones mind. An example of this is when Nunez is trying to explain to the villagers that he has
sight. The villagers dont believe him and go on to tell him his eyesight is something that is imagined. Thus
implying that Nunez would feel as if he is on a drug of some sort.
Learning and Cognition

THE COUNTRY OF THE BLIND PSYCHOLOGY ANALYSIS

The final concept to be mentioned is learning and cognition. More specifically in the short story, the
concept would be learning. Learning can be defined as a relatively permanent change in behavior (or behavior
potential) due to experience. An example of this would be when Nunez underestimates the villagers and their
disability of being blind. He believes he can take advantage of them, however he ends up being proven wrong
and learns his lesson of underestimating the power of the villagers. Also just new people in general.

The case isn't that a man with an effective new knowledge could never demonstrate it to others. Rather,
the fact of the matter is that somebody with another knowledge could without much of a stretch fall flat by
pomposity, expecting his understanding offers more than it does, and belittling what could be possible, and
how things look, without it.

The located individual in this story could have succeeded via deliberately mastering the regular abilities
and practices of the visually impaired, and afterward painstakingly looking for basic clear approaches to
demonstrate how his new capacity could give advantage, in the connection of their common practices.
Expecting rather that ones new understanding reasons from the need to take after the normal social ways, or to
take in the regular experiences and aptitudes of ones picked range, is a formula for disappointment.

THE COUNTRY OF THE BLIND PSYCHOLOGY ANALYSIS

References
Jones, R. (2002). In the country of the blind? Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, 885-887.

Scott, D. (1999). 'In the country of the blind, the one-eyed man is king', Erasmus (1466- 1536).
British Journal of Anaesthesia, 820-821.
Cohen, P., & Ainley, P. (n.d.). In the Country of the Blind?: Youth Studies and Cultural Studies in
Britain. Journal of Youth Studies, 79-95.