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

2. Why does the Girl with Dark Glasses' companion abandon her when she goes blind?

3. Why isn't the First Man's wife home?

4. Which of the following is not among the objects that internees saw immediately before going blind?

5. Which newly blind character arrives in the first ward at the end of the chapter?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the First Man compose himself in the Doctor's office?

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

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

4. Describe the Man with the Eye-Patch.

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

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

7. What bit of knowledge does the Thief reveal to the Doctor's Wife on the night of his death? What will he do with this knowledge?

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

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Burial is an important component of the narrative. As time goes on, the characters' attitude toward interring their dead changes. In an essay, state the change that occurs in this attitude and how this change mirrors the characters' change in self-image. Map this change through the burials of the following:

1. The Thief

2. The four first ward inmates shot by the guards

3. The Old Woman with insomnia

4. The Gaunt Old Woman

Essay Topic 2

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 3

Discuss the devolution of post-industrial society in the novel by choosing one of the following questions to answer in essay form:

1.) The Doctor's Wife is a witness to degradation and dehumanization in the quarantine. What are some examples of the subhuman conditions in the asylum, and what is Saramago saying about the trajectory human nature takes when standards of living are reduced to subsistence levels?

2.) Discuss the relationship of the Thugs to the rest of the quarantine after the Thugs take control of the food supply. How does this feudal relationship involve inmates relying wholeheartedly on those who subjugate them?

3.) The Man with the Eye-Patch that the state of the city after the blindness has swept the country is similar to the origins of man. How does this city resemble pre-agrarian times, citing examples of modern social standards that have vanished?

(see the answer keys)

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