Blindness

Blindness

• Genre: Fiction; postmodern
• Originally Published: 1995
• Reading Level/Interest: College/adult
• Structure/Length: 17 chapters; approx. 352 pages; approx. 12 hours, 33 minutes on audio
• Protagonist and Central Conflict: An epidemic of sudden, unexplained blindness afflicts the population of an unnamed city, including an ophthalmologist and his patients. The novel reveals the subsequent panic and traumatic breakdown of society as victims strive to survive in quarantine, and follows the struggles of the ophthalmologist’s wife, the only person who retains their sight.
• Potential Sensitivity Issues: Epidemics; ableism; violence, including rape; despair and death

José Saramago, Author

• Bio: 1922-2010; born in Santarém, Portugal to a poor peasant family; learned technical skills as a teen; became a journalist and worked for pro-communist paper after the country’s Carnation Revolution in 1974; became a novelist but did not achieve fame for his writing until age 60; awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1998, with Blindness one of the books mentioned by the selection committee.
• Other Works: Land of Sin (1947); The Traveler’s Baggage (1973); The Stone Raft (1986); The Cave (2000); The Elephant’s Journey (2008)
• Awards: Camões Prize in 1995; Nobel Prize in Literature in 1998; America Award in 2004

CENTRAL THEMES connected and noted throughout this Teaching Unit:

• Physical Versus Metaphorical Blindness
• The Fragility of Society
• Contagion, Othering, and Ableism
• The Importance of Privileging Communal Good

STUDY OBJECTIVES: In accomplishing the components of this Unit, students will:

• Consider the theme of The Fragility of Society and the possibilities for responding to societal collapse.
• Gain an understanding of the complexity of decision-making in the face of unknown community threats through paired resources and discussion.
• Connect with the themes of The Fragility of Society and The Importance of Privileging Communal Good; analyze in writing and class discussion the importance of building trust and community, especially when all seems lost.
• Work in a small group of peers to explore and share conclusions on the elements of transformation in the novel and a parallel text.