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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. In the first ward, who suggests and an armed assault against the Thugs?

2. What ridiculous suggestion does one inmate make after the Thugs steal the food rations?

3. Which is not an item the Doctor's Wife finds in her larder?

4. What is eating a man's corpse in a city square?

5. What do the Thugs demand in Chapter 9 in exchange for food?

Short Essay Questions

1. What happens to the Old Woman with insomnia in Chapter 11?

2. How does the Girl with Dark Glasses respond to the Man with the Eye-Patch's declaration of love?

3. What is the Doctor's principle argument for now trying to stop his wife from going to the Thugs' ward?

4. What is the general attitude in the other wards when food stops arriving at the main entrance?

5. Describe the state of the outside world since the blindness disease has spread to almost every citizen?

6. How does the first ward get its information of the outside world?

7. What are the sleeping conditions in quarantine now that all of the beds are full?

8. How does the Doctor's Wife meet the Dog of Tears?

9. Why would the Doctor's Wife's mentioning to the stranger she meets that she is going home reveal that she can see?

10. How do the Thugs keep track of their earnings?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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?

Essay Topic 2

Several objects have major effects on the outcome of events in quarantine. Write a body paragraph about each of these objects: initial impressions upon its first appearance in the narrative, conjecture about its possible use by characters, and eventual function within the story:

Part 1) The gun

Part 2) The scissors

Part 3) The lighter

Essay Topic 3

If the novel Blindness is a parable, what is the lesson? Each of the surviving characters grows in a certain way from their experience in quarantine. What does the breakdown of their lives teach them? Cite examples for three of the surviving characters, noting how they behave at the beginning of the novel and at the end.

(see the answer keys)

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