Literary Analysis of Guy de Maupassant’s ‘The Blind Man’
‘The Blind Man’ is a short story written by Guy de Maupassant. It is a relatively short piece that examines the experience of the blind man and the severe treatment he experienced in the hands of his family and the community. Operating from a third-person point of view, the author enables readers to view the situation as it is happening from afar. By offering this distant view, the piece is able to highlight the different levels of oppression and cruelty exhibited to the old man. Though he continued to be passive and non-responsive to these acts, the acts continued until eventually he succumbed to the winter cold and experienced a bitter death. It is through such depiction that de Maupassant offers a chilling reality surrounding evil and man’s capability in the promotion of oppression.
One of the important themes emphasized by de Maupassant in this piece reflects man’s cruelty to people who are considered to be physically inferior. As the author tries to convey the story to readers, the detached perspective demonstrates how the people, including the man’s family treated the blind man. By using certain dialogues from some relevant characters such as his brother-in-law, de Maupassant is able to showcase the severity of abuse committed to the man. Longhurst and Grant provide that “de Maupassant succeeds in rousing our disgust, maybe self-disgust, at the image of this silent, passive, yet imperturbable blind man victimized and in the end “eaten” by the cruel “natural ferocity and savage merriment” of his family and community” (1623). The thing that is more saddening of course is the willingness of the blind man to accept his fate without complaining or saying a word.
Another reality highlighted by de Maupassant in this story is the reality of oppression and the way it manifests within individuals and society. From the piece, the blind man symbolizes people who are disenfranchised, subjugated and treated inhumanely by both individuals and social institutions. The severity of actions committed by the anonymous characters in the story seeks to reflect the disparities of human condition and how they are manifested within society. As Richard Fusco provides, “Maupassant thus forces readers to contend with the unresolvable disparity between life as it ought to be and life as it is, leading them to admit the inevitable duality of most perceptions” (48). Applying this quote in this case, the story exhibits the severity of human oppression and how this severity can induce a collective response to doing evil.
Lastly, the passiveness of the blind man also shows the numbness that oppression can create to individuals and groups. It remains to be a saddening feature wherein people, like the blind man are forced to accept the inhumane actions committed against them. For the case of protagonist in the story, the multitude of abuses could have triggered his capacity to fight back but instead chose to accept his fate or be silent about the actions committed against him (de Maupassant 1). One way of looking at this is numbness as the blind man realizes his lack of capability to fight back because of his physical condition. The sad part of this of course is the blind man’s acceptance of his fate, a decision he would soon suffer as he succumbed to the harshness and human suffering.
Overall, Guy de Maupassant’s ‘The Blind Man’ is a story depicting the reality of human oppression within society. It emphasizes the nature of abuse the blind man was subjected to and how he finally succumbed to this evil that has brought him suffering and demise. Written from an observer’s standpoint, the author is able to highlight important themes related to oppression, cruelty and how all these forced the numbness of society towards its use. By emphasizing on this extreme reality, de Maupassant is able to advance the reality of evil within society and if not properly managed can induce a lasting impression to individuals or groups who continue and remain to be oppressed.
Works Cited
de Maupassant, Guy. ‘The Blind Man’ About.com.n.d. Web. Accessed 29 August 2014.
Fusco, Richard. Maupassant and the American Short Story: The Influence of Form at the Turn of the Century, Pennsylvania: Penn State University Press. 1994. Print.
Longhurst, Mark and Grant, Hugh. ‘Images of Illness: Blindness’ Canadian Family Physician. 35.1(1989): 1623-1626.