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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 aggravates the Doctor in his call with the Ministry of Health?

2. Which group is forced to barricade itseld as the quarantine is flooded with new inmates?

3. How long does it take the government to round up the known blind for quarantine?

4. Before the soldiers provide a spade, what do the inmates use to try to bury the Thief?

5. What object is not in the painting one man saw before going blind?

Short Essay Questions

1. What insights does the Doctor's Wife have about the society of blind people in quarantine in the beginning of Chapter 5?

2. How does the Man with the Eye-Patch describe the state of the outside world?

3. Describe the state of the dormitory at the end of Chapter 6.

4. How are conditions in quarantine affected as more inmates arrive throughout Chapter 5?

5. What appears to be the pattern for the spread of blindness in the novel?

6. What news does the Minister of Health have for the Doctor when he calls back?

7. Who in the first ward dies in the hail of fire?

8. Does the First Man trust the man who comes to his aid after he goes blind?

9. Describe the humiliation that occurs when the Doctor tries to use the toilet in Chapter 6.

10. Describe the final moments of the Thief's life.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Create a character arc for the Doctor. As a figure of esteem in the realm of vision before the epidemic, how does he become a figure of scorn after. Citing examples form his time in quarantine, map out his descent from control to helplessness. In what ways does he occasionally reassert his control over life?

Essay Topic 2

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

1.) Why does the Doctor's Wife not reveal her ability to see while in quarantine? Do you consider this choice prudent or selfish? Does this choice to remain a covert observer give her more or less control over her environment?

2.) Why do you think it takes so long for the blind inmates in quarantine so long to organize themselves? Are they content being at the mercy of systems handed to them by the government and the Thugs? What Saramago saying about the weak nature of human groups?

3.) Why do you think it is so easy for the Thugs to take control of the food supply and one of the wards? Is it exclusively their superior arms? What tactics do they employ to divide and disorient their subjects in the other wards?

Essay Topic 3

After the central characters leave quarantine, they discover a city where absence of sight has rendered private property nonexistent:

Part 1) Examine the overview of the situation as related by the anonymous man that the Doctor's Wife speaks to as she is walking to the city? What function do residences and stores serve in this new society?

Part 2) Which characters within the group cling to the hope that they will find their old home, and which give up this hope? Prior to regaining their sight, do they find a home?

Part 3) Examine the First Man's arrangement with the Writer living in his house. How has the First Man's attitude toward private property changed since the beginning of the novel?

(see the answer keys)

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