Blindness

Description

This novel tells the story of an outbreak of an unexplained epidemic that causes near-total blindness in an unnamed city, leading to the rapid disintegration of society. We follow the tragedy of a group of people who were among the first to be afflicted, focusing particularly on the doctor’s wife and her husband. Many of the doctor’s patients and others are quarantined together by chance. After a long and arduous period in isolation, the group bonds and becomes like a family, fighting for survival. They are fortunate to have the doctor’s wife, who remains unaffected and still able to see, among them. The suddenness of the outbreak, the unknown cause of the blindness, and the widespread panic it causes all contribute to this. The social order is quickly exposed as the government attempts to control the situation and contain the infection through increasingly repressive and foolish measures.