View a FREE sample

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

Short Answer Questions

1. How does the Doctor describe the whiteness of First Man's blindness?

2. Why do two inmates in the first ward fight?

3. What does the government ask families to do as the epidemic spreads faster?

4. What action does the First Man take, forgetting that he has gone blind?

5. What aggravates the Doctor in his call with the Ministry of Health?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. Describe the First Man's Wife's reaction to her husband when she comes home.

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

4. By this point, is the dispersal of food effectively organized by Chapter 7?

5. What is the Doctor's Wife's reaction to her husbands hypothesis about his blindness?

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

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

8. What happens when the hundreds of new internees are delivered to quarantine?

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

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

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

Consider the government's plan for dealing with the white sickness. Knowing what transpires as time goes on, what steps could be taken to avoid the spread of the disease? If none, what course of action could have been taken to protect the population of the unnamed country?

Essay Topic 3

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?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 834 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample