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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does a blind person grab from the Doctor's Wife as she runs from the grocery?

2. Which two characters are given sneakers rather than boots by the Doctor's Wife?

3. Why does the Man with the Eye Patch stop receiving news from his radio?

4. Who in the first ward defends the anonymous person who killed the Leader of the Thugs?

5. What does the Gaunt Old Woman clutch to in her rigor-mortised hand?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the Thugs' ward.

2. What plan does the Doctor's Wife and her band of companions develop after the asylum burns down?

3. What is the Doctor's principle argument for now trying to stop his wife from going to the Thugs' ward?

4. Describe the Gaunt Old Woman that lives below the Girl with Dark Glasses' parents' apartment.

5. Describe the state of the outside world since the blindness disease has spread to almost every citizen?

6. What arrangement do the Thugs make for payment?

7. What are the sleeping conditions in quarantine now that all of the beds are full?

8. Describe the old woman with insomnia in Chapter 9.

9. What is the general attitude in the other wards when food stops arriving at the main entrance?

10. How does the Doctor's Wife meet the Dog of Tears?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Saramago makes several references to the old cliche: "in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king." In the central section of the novel, he pits two characters with sensory advantages against each other: the Doctor's Wife, who can see, and the Chronicler, who was born blind and can read and type braille. Compare and contrast these two "one-eyed men" and how they use or do not use their advantages. Is either truly a leader or "king" in the quarantine? What does each hope to achieve for their constituency?

Essay Topic 2

If the novel Blindness is a parable, what is the lesson? Each of the surviving characters grows in a certain way from their experience in quarantine. What does the breakdown of their lives teach them? Cite examples for three of the surviving characters, noting how they behave at the beginning of the novel and at the end.

Essay Topic 3

Choose one of the following topics to discuss in essay form:

1.) What qualities - besides her ability to see - make the Doctor's Wife a good leader to the group after they leave quarantine? How does she develop these leadership qualities and what are their limits?

2.) What aspects of the government's plan prove to be erroneous? Do you think government officials lacked suitable leadership in dealing with the white sickness, or were events simply too powerful for any leader?

3.) Had a different person from the Leader of the Thugs had a gun and taken control of the food supplies, could the result have been positive? Could order, cleanliness and fair distribution come about, or does absolute power corrupt absolutely?

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