“Blindness” by Jose Saramago

A contagious form of blindness has hit the world. Everywhere people are getting blind.  This form of blindness known as white blindness is highly contagious and infects anybody who comes into contact with an infected person. The government isolates all those infected with the disease or suspected of having been exposed to the disease. Only one person so far is immune to the epidemic.  

The horrific state of affairs, the scatological imagery , the filth, the helplessness of the infected , the selfishness, greed  and pure evil exhibited  underscores the fact calamity does not necessarily make people good.   

Without proper functioning institutions and the maintenance of law and order, people descend into a form of nature. However, the selfish need to survive in this form of state of nature makes people still bond together in order to further the interest of their group to the detriment of others. The level that humanity descends can only be described as totally barbaric.

Jose Saramago in this novel shows why he is a literary genius. No doubt he won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1998. Blindness or to be specific white blindness, a totally boring theme is used by Saramago to weave a plot which is interesting and touches the soul and heart of the reader.

The language is beautiful. The book reads more or less as if the reader is an observer witnessing the   events unfolds before him or her. He proves the irrelevance of our attachment to mundane things in the world. In the end Saramago is able to effectively pull off a realistic and tragic portrayal of humanity.