Blindness

Reading Check and Short Answer questions on key points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

Chapters 1-4

Reading Check

1. What is the narrator’s point of view?

2. Who wrote “a doctor is worth several men”?

3. Whose idea is it to quarantine the blind and the contaminated?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. When does the First Blind Man become suspicious of the stranger who came to his aid?

2. What similar experience do the Car Thief and the Doctor have before going blind?

3. Why does the Policeman ask the Girl With Dark Glasses if she has money?

4. What happens when the First Blind Man tries to go to a different ward?

Paired Resource

“The Case of the Diamond Princess: Stranded at Sea in a Pandemic”

• This case study discusses the quarantine of passengers on the Diamond Princess cruise ship at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• The resource relates to the theme of the Fragility of Society.
• What happens to trust in established authority figures when normal policies, rules, and regulations are suspended in the face of a poorly understood threat?

Chapters 5-7

Reading Check

1. What explanation does the Taxi Driver propose for the blindness?

2. What two things are considered essential for life?

3. Why does the Doctor’s Wife sob inconsolably after three days of internment?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What happens when the Doctor requests medicine to help the wounded man?

2. Why does the Doctor’s Wife decide it does not matter if the soldiers realize she can see?

3. Why do the internees want the soldiers to go blind?

Paired Resource

“Quarantined for Life: The Tragic History of US Leprosy Colonies”

• This article discusses the experience of patients isolated due to Hansen’s disease, the “separating sickness.”
• The resource relates to the theme of Contagion, Othering, and Ableism.
• How did the patients confined to leper colonies manage to build community despite their isolation and harsh treatment?

Chapters 8-10

Reading Check

1. What does the Unknown Voice describe as the last thing seen before going blind?

2. Which bed is available for the Old Man With the Eyepatch?

3. Who joins the Doctor to exchange their valuables for food?

4. How many people does the Doctor’s Wife count in the group that took all the food?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What does the Old Man With the Eyepatch report about conditions outside?

2. After deciding to let all the other internees know that she can see, why does the Doctor’s Wife change her mind?

Paired Resource

“Self-Defense”

• Cornell Law School’s legal definition of the term
• Relates to the theme of The Importance of Privileging Communal Good
• Was the Doctor’s Wife’s decision to kill the Hoodlum leader morally justified?

Chapters 11-13

Reading Check

1. What is the worst thing about hell, according to the narrator?

2. Who defends the person who killed the Hoodlums’ leader?

3. What do the internees find when they enter the city?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What prompts the Doctor's Wife to tell her husband, “If you say nothing, it will be easier for me to understand”?

2. What does the Girl With Dark Glasses say about respectable women being reborn?

3. How does the Doctor’s Wife locate food in the supermarket?

Paired Resource

“Society Is Right on Track for a Global Collapse, New Study of Infamous 1970s Report Finds”

• This article is about a reassessment of a 1970s report on the breakdown of human society.
• The resource relates to the theme of Physical Versus Metaphorical Blindness.
• What are some of the conditions and circumstances in present-day society to which some people might be considered blind?

Chapters 14-17

Reading Check

1. What do some old people have that makes up for the little time they have remaining, according to the narrator?

2. Where does the Old Man With the Eyepatch choose to bathe?

3. Who is living in the First Blind Man’s flat?

4. What does the Doctor say is needed for humanity to survive?

5. What is different about the statues and images in the church?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why does the Girl With Dark Glasses want to stay in her flat?

2. What basis does the Girl With Dark Glasses have for believing the Doctor’s Wife is beautiful?

3. Why do the Doctor’s Wife and the Girl With Dark Glasses have trouble carrying the corpse?

Recommended Next Reads

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

• This dystopian novel features the journey of a man and boy across a blasted landscape, struggling to survive.
• Shared themes include The Fragility of Society.
• The Road on SuperSummary

Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler

• Part of a two-part series, this science fiction novel follows a teenage girl of color as she navigates survival in post-apocalyptic society in 2024.
• Shared themes include The Fragility of Society.
• Parable of the Sower on SuperSummary