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Chapter 11
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Blindness, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Existence, Uncertainty, and Autonomy
Good, Evil, and Moral Conscience
Biological Needs and Human Society
Narrative, Ideology, and Identity
Summary
Analysis
A few days later, on their way to another ward, the thugs stop by the protagonists’ ward to taunt the women. The doctor’s wife reveals that one of them has died, and one of the thugs dismisses this as unimportant. “It wasn’t much of a loss,” the doctor’s wife says sardonically, and the thugs pause, confused, before sauntering away.
The thugs are surprised to hear the doctor’s wife make fun of the woman’s death because they assumed that nobody else could be as cruel and heartless as they are. By momentarily agreeing with them, the doctor’s wife rejects the role they have given her (a battered victim) and instead forces them to see her as their peer. In a sense, she models empathy by mirroring the thugs’ position, both to make them consider everyone else’s position and to indicate that she is willing to fight back.
Themes
The doctor’s wife grabs the scissors and waits by the door until the next ward’s 15 women come into the corridor. Terrified by the stories they have heard, these women slowly walk toward the thugs’ ward, and the doctor’s wife silently follows them. When they arrive, the thugs examine and begin to rape them, and then the doctor’s wife slips into the ward behind them with her scissors. She approaches the leader, who is raping one of the women. The doctor’s wife waits for the perfect opportunity and then drives the scissors “deep into the blind man’s throat.” As he starts screaming and his blood starts spurting everywhere, he also ejaculates, and the woman he is raping takes the opportunity to bite off his penis. The doctor’s wife whispers in this woman’s ear to comfort her.
The doctor’s wife takes advantage of the thugs’ distraction while they rape the women, but readers might wonder why she does not kill the leader before the women arrive, in order to spare these women the suffering she had to endure. There is no clear or easy answer to this question, but it is significant that the doctor’s wife stabs the thugs’ leader while he is doing the same thing to the woman who bites off his penis as he did to the doctor’s wife a few days before. This makes it clear that she is acting in symbolic revenge. But she is also careful to comfort the blind woman, who is likely to be confused and even more frightened by the commotion. In the process, however, the doctor’s wife indirectly reveals her identity in the only form that the blind can perceive it: her voice.
Themes
The other blind thugs realize that something is wrong and head toward the leader. The blind accountant reaches the leader’s body first and grabs the gun out of the man’s pocket. Meanwhile, the women try to flee to the hallway, but they run toward the men by mistake. While the men and women fight, the doctor’s wife waits in the corner. The accountant tries to establish order by firing into the air, but this only creates more chaos. The other men to give up on their fistfights with the women, and the doctor’s wife starts to attack, hitting the men indiscriminately in an attempt to make space for the women to escape. She is successful, and the women make it to the corridor.
In the pandemonium that follows the thug leader’s death, the blind accountant recognizes that whoever has the gun will have power over the rest of the group, and so he grabs it while the others run in confused circles. The doctor’s wife went after the thugs’ leader both to avenge her own trauma and to destabilize the thugs’ organization. But curiously, she does not stab or kill anyone else—she only attacks the others in order to help the women escape. This suggests that she places blame solely and squarely on the leader’s shoulders—she does not want to do more harm than is necessary, and the other thugs do not deserve the same punishment as the leader who organized them in a way that enabled their potential for evil.
Themes
From the doorway to the thugs’ ward, the doctor’s wife yells out that, just as she did not forget the ringleader’s face, she “won’t forget [the others’] faces either.” The accountant threatens her in turn, claiming that they remember her voice and will kill her, and that he is not blind like the others. Then, he declares that the thugs will withhold food from everyone else, but the doctor’s wife replies that if they do so, she will kill one of the thugs every day until they give up—in fact, her ward will take charge of the food now. The accountant fires a gunshot at the doctor’s wife but misses, after which the doctor’s wife heads down the hallway toward her ward.
The doctor’s wife makes it clear that, in killing the thugs’ leader, she fully intends on replacing him and acting as the hospital’s new dictator—now, she will use the thugs’ own starvation tactics against them. Her scissors, combined with her sight, easily outpace the blind accountant’s gun. By mentioning the thugs’ “faces,” she hints at the fact that she can see and intensifies her threats against them. When the accountant says that he is not blind like everyone else, he is pointing out that he has been blind all his life and thus has some level of advantage (though not nearly as much of an advantage as the doctor’s wife). The doctor’s wife already knows this about the account, however, since her husband reported hearing someone type out braille.
Themes
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On the way back to her ward, the doctor’s wife bursts into tears and falls to the ground when she realizes that she actually killed someone and will do so again if needed. Such drastic measures are necessary, she decides, “when what is still alive is already dead.” The doctor finds her in the hallway—he has heard that a woman stabbed killed the leader of the thugs, and he knew this woman had to be his wife. The doctor’s wife admits what she has done. She insists that “someone had to do it,” but the doctor worries that this will spark some kind of war between the thugs and the other internees. They decide to barricade their ward’s door with beds, like the thugs did, to make sure nobody attacks them while they sleep.
The doctor’s wife is overwhelmed to recognize that she has finally taken the decisive action necessary to reclaim the hospital from the thieves, but she cannot shake the recognition that she has done something horrendous and inhuman. The situation, she realizes, completely transforms the meaning of good and evil—but this does not make the demands of morality any less important, just much harder to fulfill. Unlike the thugs, who feel no empathy or remorse when they commit acts of horrific violence, the doctor’s wife retains her moral conscience and refuses to suppress her feelings. In other words, her breakdown is a sign of moral fortitude, not of emotional weakness: it shows that she continues to value and pursue what she knows to be right, even though most of the people around her have given up on their principles.
Themes
Over the next few days the accountant’s threat proves to be true: the soldiers only deliver food inconsistently. After two days without food, a group led by the doctor’s wife goes outside and asks the new sergeant for an explanation. The sergeant insists that the soldiers aren’t responsible—there is simply no food to give the internees, who will still be shot if they come outside. Back inside, the internees debate what to do—they know they will start to starve soon if they stay inside, but they’ll probably be shot if they go outside.
The lack of food reminds the internees that, for a long while, the thugs were the only people mediating between the indifferent soldiers and the patients inside the hospital. Now, the reader is forced to question the notion that the thugs represented pure evil: what if the thugs were actually carefully rationing food to help keep the patients alive? Of course, this does not excuse their violence, but it does show the extent to which circumstances and the inclusion or omission of particular details can determine the morality and consequences of different actions.
Themes
One of the internees laments that the thugs’ leader has died: the thugs were giving everyone food, which was worth the price the women had to pay. The man declares that whoever killed the thugs’ leader should be bought “to justice.” Unexpectedly, the doctor’s wife agrees, thinking that she’ll be to blame if any of the internees starve to death. She nearly admits that she killed the leader, but the old man with the eyepatch stops her and says that whoever killed the man was actually a courageous heroine who protected the internees’ dignity. Just as the interned men profited from the women’s exploitation “like low-life pimps,” he declares, the men should put their bodies on the line by stealing the food from the soldiers.
The nameless internee’s defense of the thugs shows that he does not understand the women’s experience, and it arguably shows how significantly the deprivation of basic needs like food can distort people’s thinking. More broadly, it also represents the human tendency to defend the actions of the powerful, even when they are against one’s own interests, in order to continue feeling that the world is ordered logically and that the powerful justly deserve their positions. But the doctor’s wife’s near acceptance of responsibility shows that she continues to struggle with the moral implications of what she has done. The old man with the eyepatch again serves as the voice of reason and wisdom, reminding the group of the actual situation and the fact that the women know the depth of the thugs’ cruelty better than the men.
Themes
The woman who bit off the thug leader’s penis—the only person who knows that the doctor’s wife killed the man—comes into the hallway. To give this woman the opportunity to identify her, the doctor’s wife decides to speak: she announces that the women should “return to that place where they humiliated us,” to “rid ourselves of it,” and the woman who knows her identity replies, “Wherever you go, I shall go.” The men are surprised, and the doctor asks if anyone still wants to punish the leader’s killer, or if whoever stabbed him was acting on behalf of everyone else. His wife suggests that the prisoners will launch an attack to get food if they are not given it by tomorrow.
The woman who says “Wherever you go, I shall go” privately affirms her loyalty and sets up the doctor’s wife as the patients’ legitimate leader. Serving as kind of a mirror for the doctor’s wife to enable her to see the effects of her actions, this woman defends the killing as righteous and encourages the internees to organize against their actual enemy (the rest of the thugs) rather than inventing a new enemy who is easier to confront.
Themes
The meeting closes, and everyone returns to their wards just as the loudspeaker plays the daily instructions—this has only happened occasionally as of late, which has annoyed all the blind people who relied on it to help keep count of the days. Suddenly, after the full instructions play out, the lights in the hospital go off. It is night, and when the doctor’s wife goes outside, she sees that there’s an apparent power outage in the surrounding area of the city.
The loudspeaker’s inconsistency highlights the unreliability and impotence of the Government, whose 15 rules are no longer relevant under the actual conditions the inmates are forced to endure. The loss of electricity represents the collapse of organized society and authority more generally, which ominously signals to the internees that anarchy reigns outside as well as inside the hospital.
Themes
In the morning, the internees assemble on the front steps and wait for food or the soldiers. But nothing happens all day, so they return inside to try and take food from the thugs, who have again blocked the entrance to their ward with beds. The man with the eyepatch starts planning an attack. Although some of the blind resist the idea, 17 of them agree to go—including the doctor and his wife, the girl with the glasses, the pharmacist’s assistant, a number of other men, and “that woman who had said, ‘Wherever you go, I shall go.’” They debate tactics and decide to advance silently, barefoot, with the metal bars that make up their beds. The girl with the glasses insists that the women must play their part, although the man with the eyepatch objects and laments, “if only one of you women could see.”
There is no longer any sign of the Government that locked the inmates inside in the first place, and they decide to attack the thugs for the sake of food, not power. These internees are trying to seize food for everyone, not only themselves, which suggests that there is now a heightened sense of unity and moral conscience among them. While their numbers are small, the uprising is still significant enough to indicate that the doctor’s wife has brought them hope—as they organize, their morale improves, and vice versa. Of course, the comment from the man with the eyepatch at the end of this section is deeply ironic, because it shows that nobody understands the true source of the doctor’s wife’s power (or their growing power as a collective).
Themes
The blind advance on the thugs’ lair. One of them drops their metal bar, which makes “a deafening sound,” but the doctor’s wife goes ahead to confirm that the hoodlums are not startled. Other internees gather around to observe, and some decide to join in at the last minute. The evening breaks, and when they reach the thugs’ ward, the doctor’s wife doesn’t notice that there are even more beds blocking the door now. The man with the eyepatch yells out, and the inmates start pushing on the beds but make no progress. Everyone starts screaming, and then the accountant fires three gunshots from inside, which strike two of the inmates.
Now leaderless and on the defensive, the thugs simply lock themselves inside with their food, and the doctor’s wife’s seemingly mystical power of sight hits an obstacle it cannot overcome. Ironically, the authority of both the Government (including the soldiers) and the thugs seems to have completely collapsed—so while the internees have gained a kind of freedom and independence, this is meaningless without the resources they need to survive.
Themes
The internees retreat and debate whether to rescue the wounded. The doctor, his wife, the man with the eyepatch, and the woman who said “Wherever you go, I shall go” decide to crawl over and check, while others make noise back in their wards. When they arrive, there is so much blood that they know the two fallen men are dead, and they drag them out. The accountant fires a shot but misses, and the blind carry the corpses out to the main hallway.
Yet again, the decision to rescue the wounded is not only a practical question—it also represents the protagonists’ insistence on preserving the dignity and individuality of their compatriots, who have died in a fight against abject evil. The precision afforded by the doctor’s wife’s sight continues clashing with the brute physical power represented by the blind accountant’s gun, and there is still no clear resolution to this struggle between opposite kinds of power.
Themes
The narrator reveals that there has been some dissent among the thugs since their leader was killed. The accountant has the gun, but not people’s respect, and “he loses a little more authority” every time he shoots.
Although the lead thug originally wielded power simply because he had the gun, it becomes clear that he also managed to win everybody else’s confidence (perhaps through charisma) in a way that the blind accountant simply cannot.
Themes
In the moonlight, the doctor’s wife can see that the dead are the pharmacist’s assistant and “the fellow who said the blind hoodlums would shoot at random.” After announcing their identities, she also reveals that she is not blind—some people are surprised, but others already suspected this. The doctor’s wife then leads the others in dragging the corpses to the courtyard, and people go to bed wherever they wish (rather than in their old wards). But, due to some combination of their starvation, terror, excitement, and uncertainty, nobody can sleep: everyone stays awake, like “buzzing insects.”
The doctor’s wife’s decision to reveal that she can see is at once desperate and triumphant: since the internees are engaged in a bitter battle against the thugs, they need any advantage they can get, and her sight is one of them. But this also represents her insistence on finally taking moral responsibility for leading and coordinating the group, even though she did not initially feel up to the task. After a long period of despair, the group is suddenly overcome with a sense of hope and anticipation—finally, they can imagine a future besides detention in the hospital.
Themes
Meanwhile, one blind woman finds a cigarette lighter that she had packed before coming to the hospital; she crosses over to the thugs’ ward and sets fire to the beds that are blocking the door. The flame grows rapidly, killing the both the thugs and the woman who set it. Terrified, some of the blind flee for the hospital’s front door, trampling one another in the process. Others open their windows and jump out into the courtyard. The blind start yelling for the doctor’s wife, who has just led her ward’s residents out into the corridor. With the other half of the hospital on fire, the inmates decide to “get out,” despite the risk posed by the soldiers. As the man with the eyepatch puts it, “Better to be shot than to be burnt to death.”
The nameless blind woman’s lack of identity is fitting, because it suggests both that she could be anyone and that she is acting on behalf of everyone—she is not interested in the meaning or the consequences of her action but merely motivated by a burning desire for revenge. The suddenness of her decisive action contrasts almost comically with the anxious despair the inmates endured for weeks—but now, with the situation becoming life-or-death, they run from a certain danger and toward an uncertain one.
Themes
The doctor’s wife leads the inmates through the smoke-filled corridor to the hospital’s front steps, where she shouts out for the soldiers. However, there is no light, and there are no soldiers. She tells the inmates that they’re free just as the hospital’s roof comes crashing down. Some of the inmates make it outside, but many die inside either crushed by the fallen building or trampled by the fleeing crowds. “The gate is wide open,” the narrator concludes, and “the madmen escape.”
The soldiers’ unexpected disappearance ironically shows the internees that they could have left in search of food long ago and avoided the gory deaths they now incur: they were trapped inside simply because of their expectations and sense of defeat. Just like the man who lamented the lead thug’s death, the internees as a whole became so used to their adverse conditions that they completely gave up on the possibility of autonomy. Because of the conditions in which they’ve been confined, the novel’s characters truly resemble the “madmen” stereotypically associated with asylums—they are completely out of touch with the reality of life in the city. By suggesting that the mental hospital has made the blind into “madmen,” Saramago points out how environments and circumstances inevitably shape and define people.
Themes
