Losing my sight frightens me more than losing any of my other senses. I’m more afraid to never see anyone I love than to never hear their voice. I will see their mouths move, their eyes shine. If the world lost itself to blindness, utter chaos would ensue.
In Jose Saramago’s Blindness, it begins with one. An old man driving home goes blind at an intersection. He is helped home by a man who takes advantage of him and steals his car. He himself goes blind. The first blind man’s wife comes home and takes him to a doctor. Everyone at the doctor’s office goes blind. Everyone except the wife of the doctor.
The government, in an attempt to prevent the spreading of the contagious blindness disease, quarantines these individuals in an insane asylum. At first, it is only the group of ten or fifteen that went blind, along with the wife of the doctoer. Then, it builds to a group of two or three hundred. A daily recording plays that encourages them to get along, elect leaders and use hygiene products. They tell the blind people that under no condition are they to leave; they will be shot. If the building starts to burn, they will be left to die.
It is in this insane asylum that Saramago brings out the things about human kind that we hate the most. If push comes to shove, we will do what is best for ourselves and not others. If a group takes charge, they will treat people as though they are expendable. It is in this time that Saramago nearly loses me; not because of the storytelling but because of the content. Reading about some of the things that happen in that insane asylum makes my head spin.
After a period of time is spent in the asylum, they notice that they aren’t receiving any food. The doctor’s wife exits first to see what is going on, only to find that the army men that were blocking the exit have themselves gone blind. The entire world is blind. And only one person can see it.
I wasn’t sure how I felt about this book after I finished it. The language was beautiful enough and the story was unique. However, it didn’t enlighten me or impart any particular message or feeling.
[Love|Like|Unworthy]
This is the fourth book that I’ve completed for the Lost In Translation Reading Challenge.
Filed under: Jose Saramago, Literature Reviews , Blindness, Jose Saramago, Literature, Lost in Translation, Read in 2009
