Blindness

José Saramago

102 pages 3-hour read

José Saramago

Blindness

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1995

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Character List

Meet the key characters, with insights into their roles, motivations, and relationships—spoiler-free.

Major Characters

The doctor's wife is an ordinary woman who miraculously maintains her vision while the rest of the city falls to the highly contagious "white sickness." She lies to the government and claims to be blind so she can accompany her husband into quarantine at a derelict insane asylum. Within the asylum's chaotic and filthy environment, she quietly assumes the role of caretaker and fierce protector for the members of their ward.

Key Relationships

Wife of The Doctor

Caretaker for The First Blind Man

Companion of The Dog of Tears

An ophthalmologist who treats patient zero of the sudden blindness epidemic. He possesses an analytical mind and attempts to warn government health officials about the highly contagious nature of the condition. After losing his own sight, he is forced into quarantine, where his professional authority strips away as society collapses. He relies heavily on his wife's support to survive the horrific conditions of the asylum.

Key Relationships

A driver who becomes patient zero for the sudden, inexplicable "white sickness." His immediate panic sets the tone for the epidemic as he requires a stranger's help just to reach his home. Interned in the first ward alongside those he inadvertently infected, he represents the terrifying and abrupt nature of the condition.

Key Relationships

Patient of The Doctor

Robbed by The Car Thief

A working woman who loses her vision while weeping over her husband's internment. She reunites with him inside the horrific conditions of the quarantine asylum. Despite the appalling circumstances and her husband's objections, she demonstrates great personal bravery by volunteering for traumatic sacrifices to secure food for their starving ward mates.

Key Relationships

A young woman who works as a prostitute and loses her sight while with a client at a hotel. Initially viewing her condition as a cosmic punishment for her lifestyle, she undergoes a profound personal transformation within the asylum. Stripped of societal judgments, she steps into a maternal role for a young orphan in their ward.

Key Relationships

Patient of The Doctor

Attacked by The Car Thief

Companion of The Blind Man with the Black Eyepatch

Close Confidant of The Doctor's Wife

An older man who contracts the illness at the clinic but remains on the outside longer than the others. He smuggles a small battery-powered transistor radio into the asylum, providing the isolated group their only connection to the collapsing outside world. He shares news broadcasts until the stations go permanently dead.

Key Relationships

Patient of The Doctor

Supporting Characters

An opportunistic stranger who acts as a Good Samaritan before stealing the afflicted man's vehicle. He soon loses his own vision while fleeing and is rounded up into the same quarantine facility as his victim. His arrival in the asylum sparks immediate physical conflict, though the harsh reality of his disability forces him to reflect on his past actions.

Key Relationships

A young child separated from his mother during the chaotic early days of the epidemic. His case alerts the hospital administration to the severe reality of the outbreak. Inside the terrifying asylum, he attaches himself to an older woman in his ward who ensures he receives enough food to survive.

Key Relationships

Patient of The Doctor

A working-class man swept up in the second wave of government internment. He is thrown into the overcrowded asylum simply because he provided a ride to patient zero. He suffers heavily under the military's severe rationing policies.

Key Relationships

A man who lost his sight long before the epidemic began. His lifelong adaptation to living without vision makes him highly valuable to a violent gang of thugs within the asylum. He uses his distinct advantage to track stolen valuables and enforce tyrannical control of the food supply.

Key Relationships

Adversary of The Doctor

Adversary of The Doctor's Wife

An isolated elderly woman surviving the apocalypse by eating raw vegetables and animals from her garden. She lives in deep suspicion of the outside world, hoarding her meager resources in an otherwise abandoned residential block.

Key Relationships

A stray dog wandering the ruined city. He breaks away from the feral packs roaming the streets to lick the tears from the face of the exhausted doctor's wife. He follows her home, becoming a loyal and quiet companion to her ragged group of survivors.

Key Relationships

Companion of The Doctor's Wife