Monday, May 12, 2014
Having escaped from the asylum, the doctor's wife and those who follow are in desperate need of food. They have not eaten for four days. As the wife is out searching for food, she comes upon a group of people and is finally told that, "everyone is blind, the whole city, the entire country, if anyone can still see, they say nothing, keep it to themselves" (Saramago 222). This line makes me wonder of how society would react if everyone were to become blind. In reality, people would most likely make everything accessible to those who are blind, further preparing themselves and society for the worst case scenario. Today, people are extremely progressive in technology and find ways to accomplish things that they would otherwise have a difficult time doing. However, in the wife's situation, it seems as though society is quickly falling apart, with people dying from hunger and living in conditions similar to those of wild animals. The wife is left with a difficult decision; should she help those in need, or must she focus on her own survival?
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I think the role of the doctor's wife in this society is really interesting. Her character is so mysterious since she seems to be the only one immune to the blindness tearing apart her city. Saramago is testing many qualities of humans and life in this novel. He's testing love, passion, empathy, morals, and many other aspects of most modern humans when society is placed under dire circumstances. In a way, the wife is the only character in the novel left with all of these qualities given that she can still see, and Saramago places her in the novel to test these qualities and to see if she remains selfless or becomes selfish like the rest of the blind members of the city.
ReplyDeleteI think the suddenness of the situation is what makes it so challenging. There is this pervasive epidemic that no one prepared for - how could the society support those in need? I think that, in times of immediate panic, we do come together but also fight for ourselves, especially with something that we want to stop (like the progression of a contagious epidemic). And I also wonder about the number of seeing people in this world. Although the doctor's wife is immune, and we assume she's the only one, perhaps others are lying like she is?
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