There are many different fictional novels that I have read; however, one that is the most memorable is Blindness by Jose Saramago. The novel tells a story about a spontaneous, unexplainable epidemic of blindness that occurs in an unnamed city. The first part of the novel follows the experiences and misfortunes of the seven main characters, the first humans affected by the blinding disease. Then they are put into a filthy, overcrowded asylum where they and other blind people have been quarantined
details the numerous obstacles a man and his son face, in an attempt for survival, in a post-apocalyptic world. The man, the protagonist in the novel, hesitates to help any random strangers who he and his son encounter along their path. Meanwhile, Jose Saramago’s Nobel Prize-Winning novel, Blindness, deals with a mass epidemic of blindness infecting nearly everyone in an anonymous city. The doctor’s wife, who keeps her sight throughout the novel, can be identified as the protagonist. Her situation
go away is change. Change is a good thing because human beings are always evolving. If mankind stayed the same, humans could never mature or grow as people. Change is not always easy, in fact, change can be hard. In the novel Blindness by Jose Saramago, the doctor's wife undergoes change, and evolves from a timid follower to a courageous leader throughout four defining moments: when the doctor's wife lies about being blind to be with her husband, when she volunteers to go with other women to
At the beginning of Book Seven, in an attempt to better describe the education of the philosopher Socrates begins to set up an analogy with an ascent and descent into “the cave”. In Socrates’ cave analogy there was a group of people who were from childhood held in a dimly lit underground cave. The people were kept there in bonds that were designed to allow them to only what was in front of them by depriving them of the ability to turn their heads around. Also present in Socrates’ cave was a certain
We’re all trapped in a cave, being forced to see what is in front of us, and we believe it’s real, but it isn’t. We’re then forced out of our ‘cave’ and told that everything we know is a lie. We have to learn what is true, and what is an illusion. Then, we go back to tell the others. But we aren’t welcomed, instead, we’re persecuted. We are blind, immoral, wrong, harlots and witches. We see the world differently, and we want to share that with others, but we can’t, in fear of our death. That is Plato’s
Carvers Cathedral Plato’s “Myth of the Cave” and Carver’s Cathedral provide insight into parallel words. The protagonists in each story are trapped in a world of ignorance because each is comfortable in the dark, and fearful of what knowledge a light might bring. They are reluctant to venture into unfamiliar territory. Fortunately the narrator in the Cathedral is forced by circumstances to take a risk. This risk leads him into new world of insight and understanding. The narrator in “The Cathedral”
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
mingle realistic portrayals of ordinary events and characters with elements of fantasy and myth, creating a rich, frequently disquieting world that is at once familiar and dreamlike.¡¨ „h Magic realists usually spawn from South American cultures. „h Saramago chooses to turn blindness, a common disability, into an airborne disease and has an entire country split away from Europe. Only a magic realist could create such fantastical stories. Connections „h Before the entire society goes blind, people blame
an extent, fear can be used as a way to mold society. The fear of terrorism set out by the event of 9/11 made it a more fear-driven world with growing minds of over analytical, blind, ignorant and assumable citizens, finger-pointing at others. But Jose Saramago's Blindness shows the possibility of fear molding our society. An epidemic of a bright, white blindness affecting all people, such brightness that no one would see anything but the white brightness itself, the novel uses this metaphorically
When defining the word blindness, it can be interpreted in various ways. Either it can be explained as sightless, or it can be carefully deciphered as having a more complex in-depth analysis. In the novel Blindness, Jose Saramago depicts and demonstrates how in an instant your right to see can be taken in an instant. However, in this novel, blindness is metaphorically related to ‘seeing’ the truth beyond our own bias opinions. Saramago’s novel clearly illustrates themes that describe the importance
In Jose Canseco’s 60 Minutes interview, he stated that he and some of his teammates used steroids in the past. With all the hoopla surrounding Major League Baseball and its connection with allegations made by BALCO president Victor Conte, this report is intriguing at the least. High profile athletes such as Jason Giambi and Barry Bonds have been under direct scrutiny over the past year because of the steroid issue. Canseco firmly states that he and former teammate Mark McGwire casually injected together
makes ends meet by growing beans and selling them to the local townspeople, who are very sympathetic to Filipa. When a rich sheep herder named Don Jose starts harassing Filipa because she refuses to marry him She wishes for him to fall off a cliff and break his neck, when her wish comes true she feels very guilty and makes penance by giving away all of Don Jose’s sheep to those poor enough to deserve them. At the end of her penance she finds her son. This story tells allot about Spanish Culture
life – magic becomes more real than reality itself. The theme of religion and different perspectives on issue are introduced by different characters. The indigenous members of the Buendia family are very flexible toward religion. For example, Jose Arcadio Buendia teases the priest. Most of the Buendias have incestuous relationships. Most of the Buendia men have affairs with prostitutes. These examples do not prove that the Buendias are nonreligious but on the contrary they believe that religion
contemplative, stubborn man, or the impetuous, forceful man, the patient and nurturing woman, and so on, are represented by more than one individual in the several generations of the Buendia family. All the Jose Arcadios, for example, are assumed to have at least some of the traits of the original Jose Arcadio Buendia (impetuous and forceful), and all the Aurelianos have something in common with Colonel Aureliano Buendia (tendency toward solitude and contemplation). The repetitions are not exact, but
money?) ¡° Balthazar¡¯s Marvelous Afternoon ¡±, written by Gabrial Garcia Marquez, is a story about a birdcage and a poor carpenter, Balthazar. In the story, Balthazar made a beautiful birdcage that was commissioned by Pepe, the son of a rich man, Jose Montiel. However, when the carpenter took it to the boy, his father refused to pay and rather said to sell it other people. Although Balthazar got really angry, he gave the cage to Pepe as a present. At the end of the story, he told townpeople that
alone, and forgotten, is their destiny. The novel begins with geographic isolation. Jose Arcadio Buendia shouts, "God damn it! Macondo is surrounded by water on all sides!" Whether it is, in truth, an island is irrelevant. The town believed itself to be cut off from the rest of the world. In addition, Jose Arcadio Buendia and Ursula are looking for solitude. The founding of Macondo was a result of escaping Jose Arcadio Buendia's murder of Prudencio Aguilar. Aguilar's ghost haunted them, eventually
plot of the novel is simple: Jose Arcadio Buendia marries his cousin Ursula, they found Macondo, the family grows, declines, and is eventually blown off the face of the earth by a hurricane. There is a beginning, and time moves the story to a total, apocalyptic conclusion (117). Within this linear background, the structure of One Hundred Years of Solitude is circular (McMurray 77). Events throughout the entire novel repeat themselves in cycles. The names Aureliano and Jose Arcadio are repeated in each
recount that discussion about Elie Weisel’s Night to her friend on the bus, and I want them to feel enlightened and emotional about it. Years from now, I want to hear Jose tell his son about the class where he realized he wasn’t stupid and could write well. I want him to write a story about it. I haven’t taught a David, a Julie or a Jose yet, but one day I want to have that kind of effect on my students. No matter how a child feels about school, it plays a tremendous part in a child’s life. Teachers
of these areas try to create. For example, KNTV news continually reports on the thefts and shootings in East San Jose but does not make an effort to show how residents are dealing with these situations. The day a local East San Jose church helped sway the city council to put a streetlight on a very busy intersection, the news pre-empted the report with an accident on another East San Jose intersection. As a result, most people in these communities do not realize that they have power to change their
One Hundred Years of Solitude: The Relationship between Ursual and Jose Arcadio Buendia In literature, a central relationship can bond a group, and serve as a measure of the vitality of the society that it bonds. One such monumental relationship is that between Ursual and Jose Arcadio Buendia in Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude. In the chosen passage, the author uses imagery, metaphors, and characterization to illustrate their relationship, establishing a preview of their