Blindness

by

José Saramago

The first blind man’s wife Character Analysis

The first blind man’s wife is one of the novel’s protagonists; she drives her husband to visit the doctor at the beginning of the book and then goes blind herself and gets reunited with her husband when she arrives at the quarantined hospital. However, it soon becomes clear that her relationship with her husband is not as stable or loving as it may have initially seemed: they seldom talk, and when a group of thugs at the hospital demand that the ward’s women submit to sex in exchange for food, the first blind man’s wife agrees to go despite her husband’s objections. After the hospital burns down, the first blind man’s wife joins the group led by the doctor’s wife and forms a strong bond with her.

The first blind man’s wife Quotes in Blindness

The Blindness quotes below are all either spoken by The first blind man’s wife or refer to The first blind man’s wife. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Existence, Uncertainty, and Autonomy Theme Icon
).
Chapter 14 Quotes

What's the world like these days, the old man with the black eyepatch had asked, and the doctor’s wife replied, There's no difference between inside and outside, between here and there, between the many and the few, between what we're living through and what we shall have to live through, And the people, how are they coping, asked the girl with dark glasses, They go around like ghosts, this must be what it means to be a ghost, being certain that life exists, because your four senses say so, and yet unable to see it, Are there lots of cars out there, asked the first blind man, who was unable to forget that his had been stolen, It s like a cemetery. Neither the doctor nor the wife of the first blind man asked any questions, what was the point, when the replies were such as these.

Related Characters: The doctor’s wife (speaker), The girl with the dark glasses (speaker), The old man with the black eyepatch (speaker), The first blind man (speaker), The doctor / ophthalmologist, The first blind man’s wife, The little boy with the squint
Related Symbols: Blindness and Sight, Cars
Page Number: 242
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 15 Quotes

I am a writer, we are supposed to know such things. The first blind man felt flattered, imagine, a writer living in my flat, then a doubt rose in him, was it good manners to ask him his name, he might even have heard of his name, it was even possible that he had read him, he was still hesitating between curiosity and discretion, when his wife put the question directly, What is your name, Blind people do nor need a name, I am my voice, nothing else matters, But you wrote books and those books carry your name, said the doctor's wife, Now nobody can read them, it is as if they did not exist.

Related Characters: The doctor’s wife (speaker), The first blind man (speaker), The first blind man’s wife (speaker), The writer (speaker)
Related Symbols: Blindness and Sight
Page Number: 290
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Blindness LitChart as a printable PDF.
Blindness PDF

The first blind man’s wife Quotes in Blindness

The Blindness quotes below are all either spoken by The first blind man’s wife or refer to The first blind man’s wife. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Existence, Uncertainty, and Autonomy Theme Icon
).
Chapter 14 Quotes

What's the world like these days, the old man with the black eyepatch had asked, and the doctor’s wife replied, There's no difference between inside and outside, between here and there, between the many and the few, between what we're living through and what we shall have to live through, And the people, how are they coping, asked the girl with dark glasses, They go around like ghosts, this must be what it means to be a ghost, being certain that life exists, because your four senses say so, and yet unable to see it, Are there lots of cars out there, asked the first blind man, who was unable to forget that his had been stolen, It s like a cemetery. Neither the doctor nor the wife of the first blind man asked any questions, what was the point, when the replies were such as these.

Related Characters: The doctor’s wife (speaker), The girl with the dark glasses (speaker), The old man with the black eyepatch (speaker), The first blind man (speaker), The doctor / ophthalmologist, The first blind man’s wife, The little boy with the squint
Related Symbols: Blindness and Sight, Cars
Page Number: 242
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 15 Quotes

I am a writer, we are supposed to know such things. The first blind man felt flattered, imagine, a writer living in my flat, then a doubt rose in him, was it good manners to ask him his name, he might even have heard of his name, it was even possible that he had read him, he was still hesitating between curiosity and discretion, when his wife put the question directly, What is your name, Blind people do nor need a name, I am my voice, nothing else matters, But you wrote books and those books carry your name, said the doctor's wife, Now nobody can read them, it is as if they did not exist.

Related Characters: The doctor’s wife (speaker), The first blind man (speaker), The first blind man’s wife (speaker), The writer (speaker)
Related Symbols: Blindness and Sight
Page Number: 290
Explanation and Analysis: