Saramago uses a quotation from the Book of Exhortations as the epigram to Blindness: “
If you can see, look
. … Saramago uses blindness as a metaphor for both personal misfortune and social catastrophe. The story begins when the first blind man loses his vision in his car while waiting for a traffic light to change.
What is the central conflict of the story Blindness?
Existence, Uncertainty, and Autonomy. In José Saramago’s philosophical novel Blindness,
an unnamed city’s residents start suddenly and inexplicably losing their sight
.
What is the theme of Blindness by Jose Saramago?
The presence of morality in a damaged society, and the lack thereof, and the consequences that result from right and wrong
are major themes of José Saramago’s Blindness. Early in the novel, as the Ministry of Health arrives at the Doctor’s apartment, his wife attempts to accompany him.
What is the point of the movie Blindness?
“Blindness” is one of the most unpleasant, not to say unendurable, films I’ve ever seen. It is
an allegory about a group of people who survive under great stress
, but frankly I would rather have seen them perish than sit through the final three-quarters of the film. Not only is it despairing and sickening, it’s ugly.
Why did Jose Saramago write Blindness?
Furthermore, Saramago did not write this book in order to vilify the blind. His goal was to demonstrate
the fragility of human society
and, using allegory, to show that basic human decency is, in his view at least, an illusion and that it too would largely vanish, if society collapsed.
Does the doctor’s wife go blind?
The doctor’s wife is the only character in the novel who does not lose her sight. This phenomenon remains unexplained through the novel. Unwilling to leave her husband to be interned,
she lies to the government doctors and claims to be blind
. As such, she is interned with the rest of the afflicted.
Can you be partially blind?
Partial blindness
means you have very limited vision
. Complete blindness means you cannot see anything and do not see light. (Most people who use the term “blindness” mean complete blindness.)
Does Julianne Moore go blind at the end of blindness?
Julianne Moore is not blind
, but she says that she is blind so that she can be with her husband Mark Ruffalo.
Can blindness be cured?
While
there is no cure for blindness
and macular degeneration, scientists have accelerated the process to find a cure by visualizing the inner workings of the eye and its diseases at the cellular level.
What do blind people see?
A person with total blindness won’t be able to see anything
. But a person with low vision may be able to see not only light, but colors and shapes too. However, they may have trouble reading street signs, recognizing faces, or matching colors to each other. If you have low vision, your vision may be unclear or hazy.
Why does Jose Saramago give no names in his novel Blindness?
The lack of names, especially as it is combined with the lack of quotation marks surrounding dialogue,
obscures things for the reader
, making it so he or she is frequently “flying blind,” so to speak, regarding who is talking and who everyone is.
What city does blindness take place in?
São Paulo
served as the primary backdrop for Blindness, as it is a city mostly unfamiliar to North American and European audiences. With its relative obscurity, the director sought São Paulo as the film’s generic location. Filming continued through autumn of 2007.
What does the ending of blindness mean?
Major spoiler: at the end of both the book and the movie,
the blind people leave their asylum and discover
that the outside world is just as bad. Everyone’s gone blind and people have been reduced to scavenging animals. In the book, it’s a pretty horrible discovery.
What happens at the end of the movie Blindness?
At the end of the film,
the Japanese man (who was the first to be afflicted by the virus) suddenly regains his sight, and everyone is left with the hope that they, too
, will eventually be able to see again.
How long does it take to read blindness?
The average reader will spend
7 hours and 17 minutes
reading this book at 250 WPM (words per minute). A stunningly powerful novel of man’s will to survive against all odds, by the winner of the 1998 Nobel Prize for Literature.
