Blindness | Themes & Symbolism

Blindness Significant Topics

Blindness

The core theme of the novel is the extended allegory of blindness. With one exception, all of the characters in the novel are blind. Some of them, such as the Chronicler of the gang of thugs, are naturally blind. Some of them, such as the old man with the black eye-patch, are partially naturally blind. Most of them, such as the first man and the thief, are blind due to a disease known as the white sickness, which causes them to see only a milky whiteness. The physical effect of the epidemic of blindness starts on the opening pages of the novel and then apparently spontaneously resolves during the last scenes of the novel after infecting everyone in the entire nation except a single character. The course of the disease appears to be about two months and its rate of contagion is one hundred percent.

All aspects of the narrative...
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