Jose Saramago Blindness Essay

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Women are strong. Women adapt. Women will do anything to survive. These three statements are proven in Jose Saramago’s novel, Blindness. He creates beautifully dynamic female characters that often outweigh the importance of the other male leads. These assertions give Blindness a feminist touch. Saramago’s story follows the epidemic of blindness from the beginning. This allows him to show all the different emotions of each character; documenting how those emotions develop. The first female, the wife of the first blind man, reacts how any person would realistically react: she cries. The doctor’s wife reacts in a more pragmatic way. After she releases the thin shred of hope that there is no epidemic of blindness she moves on, simply taking her …show more content…

The doctor’s wife gives up her freedom to be with her husband, knowing that whatever place they end up will not be pleasant. The other women, in addition to giving up their sight, a sacrifice they did not chose, also gave up their bodies. When the hoodlums demand sex for food, all the women in the ward, after a short time, decide that being raped is a price they will have to pay to survive, and ensure the survival of their ward mates. The men are far more hesitant and protective in this case: “The first blind man had begun by declaring that his wife would not be subjected to the shame of giving her body to strangers for whatever, she had no desired and he would not permit it” (169). But the first blind man is quickly shut up by his wife. She shames his manly assertion in a way that, perhaps if seeing, she would not have. These acts of sacrifice were not cowardly acts. In fact they took an amount of courage that is almost unimaginable. The women show that they had such a strong will to live they were willing to do anything. This willingness did not fade. They were resilient and never gave up or got overly frustrated. The same cannot be said for all the men. The doctor breaks down at the state of the facilities, and though the doctor’s wife is disgusted, she deals with it. She finds the emotion and physical strength to withstand the stench and state of

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