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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 is the Girl with Dark Glasses' profession?

2. When does the Doctor go blind?

3. Who is not among the first group of inmates to arrive in quarantine?

4. What do the inmates do to pass the time at night?

5. Which of these is not a condition the Doctor asks if the First Man has?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. Describe the painting the Man with the Eye-Patch mentions at the end of Chapter 8.

3. What is the government's plan for dealing with the outbreak at the end of Chapter 3?

4. Does the Doctor give up on the case of blindness in the First Man?

5. What is the Thief's state of mind at the beginning of Chapter 2?

6. What is the Thief's reaction to the suggestion that the Doctor be leader of the quarantined inmates?

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

8. Describe the Girl with Dark Glasses' attitude toward her work.

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

10. What is the Doctor's conclusion about the origin of his blindness?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the use of violence in the novel. Is it seen as a purely evil force, or is its function in the novel more ambiguous? Why is it presented in such graphic detail? Write about each of the following violent episodes:

1. The gang-rape of the first ward women by the Thugs.

2. The murder of the Leader of the Thugs by the Doctor's Wife.

3. The burning down of the asylum.

Essay Topic 2

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 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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