Blindness by José Saramago

Gut-wrenching account of a contagion apocalypse

Portuguese author José Saramago won the 1998 Nobel Prize in Literature. One of the works the prize committee singled out when announcing his award was his 1995 novel Blindness. I had previously read Saramago’s novel The Cave, which I wasn’t too crazy about. Blindness is a better-known and highly regarded book, however, so I decided to give Saramago a second try. I’m glad I did, because I was blown away by this book from page one. The most surprising thing about the novel, to me, is that it’s actually a kind of thriller, something one doesn’t expect from Nobel laureates.

At a busy intersection in an unnamed city, a car comes to a stop at a red light. When the light turns green, the car doesn’t move, causing a traffic jam. The reason for the car’s immobility is that the driver has suddenly and inexplicably gone blind. One of the bystanders on the scene gives the blind man a ride home, and later the blind man’s wife takes him to see an ophthalmologist who can find no cause for the sudden loss of sight. Soon, the bystander, the wife, and the doctor have all gone blind, indicating that this blindness is caused by a swiftly spreading contagion. When the authorities are notified of the outbreak, the first several victims and those who have come in contact with them are rounded up and quarantined. A former mental hospital is converted into a sanitarium, but in reality it is more of a concentration camp. The internees receive periodic disbursements of food and water, but are otherwise left to care for and govern themselves. Any who attempt to escape will be shot on sight by military guards who are terrified of catching the blindness disease.

This novel isn’t so much about blindness as it is about what happens to people when they are subjected to such extreme circumstances. Somewhat like a Holocaust novel, the story is an examination in how low humanity can be degraded while still remaining human. All of the characters in the book are nameless—the doctor, the first blind man, the girl with the dark glasses, the old man with the eyepatch, etc.—which adds to the feeling of inhumanity and loss of identity. The tone and effect of Blindness is quite similar to that of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale. On the one hand, you are riveted to the story, and you admire the author for writing such a perfectly compelling narrative. On the other hand, you’re disgusted and repulsed by much of what you’re reading. One can’t help but acknowledge, however, that in an extreme apocalyptic situation such as this, there would be oppression and atrocities, violence, murders, rapes, filth, and degradation. This hell through which Saramago guides the reader is not a pleasant experience, but it is an experience that rings true to the reality of human nature as we unfortunately know it.

To be honest, the ending of Blindness wasn’t all I hoped it would be, but I was so impressed by the entire novel up to that point that I’m willing to overlook that imperfection and praise the whole work. After reading this novel, I really want to explore more of Saramago’s work, in particular his 2004 novel Seeing, which is a sequel to Blindness. For anyone interested in Saramago’s work, I would recommend buying The Collected Novels of José Saramago ebook volume from Open Road Media, which contains 13 novels and usually sells for under five bucks.