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The dog of tears
The leader of the thugs is a cruel, gun-toting criminal who leads the gang of blind patients that takes over the hospital and starts controlling its food supply. At first, he demands that all the other internees trade their valuables for access to food, and later, he leads the other thugs in collectively raping all the quarantined women. While his motives are unclear—the valuables he collects are worthless since society has broken down—he wields power with no interest in morality or equality, but simply to accumulate more power and wealth by threatening everybody else with violence and starvation. In this sense, the thug leader’s rule can be seen as a metaphor for the senseless cruelty of both capitalism and authoritarian government. Eventually, the doctor’s wife manages to stab the thugs’ leader in the neck with her scissors, killing him and ending the thugs’ reign of terror over the hospital.
The leader of the thugs Quotes in Blindness
The Blindness quotes below are all either spoken by The leader of the thugs or refer to The leader of the thugs. 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:
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Chapter 12
Quotes
She had blood on her hands and clothes, and suddenly her exhausted body told her that she was old, Old and a murderess, she thought, but she knew that if it were necessary she would kill again, And when is it necessary to kill, she asked herself as she headed in the direction of the hallway, and she herself answered the question, When what is still alive is already dead. She shook her head and thought, And what does that mean, words, nothing but words.
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All I know is that we would never have found ourselves in this situation if their leader hadn't been killed, what did it matter if the women had to go there twice a month to give these men what nature gave them to give, I ask myself. Some found this amusing, some forced a smile, those inclined to protest were deterred by an empty stomach, and the same man insisted, What I'd like to know is who did the stabbing, The women who were there at the time swear it was none of them, What we ought to do is to take the law into our own hands and bring the culprit to justice, If we knew who was responsible, we'd say this is the person you're looking for, now give us the food, If we knew who was responsible.
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The leader of the thugs Quotes in Blindness
The Blindness quotes below are all either spoken by The leader of the thugs or refer to The leader of the thugs. 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:
).
Chapter 12
Quotes
She had blood on her hands and clothes, and suddenly her exhausted body told her that she was old, Old and a murderess, she thought, but she knew that if it were necessary she would kill again, And when is it necessary to kill, she asked herself as she headed in the direction of the hallway, and she herself answered the question, When what is still alive is already dead. She shook her head and thought, And what does that mean, words, nothing but words.
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All I know is that we would never have found ourselves in this situation if their leader hadn't been killed, what did it matter if the women had to go there twice a month to give these men what nature gave them to give, I ask myself. Some found this amusing, some forced a smile, those inclined to protest were deterred by an empty stomach, and the same man insisted, What I'd like to know is who did the stabbing, The women who were there at the time swear it was none of them, What we ought to do is to take the law into our own hands and bring the culprit to justice, If we knew who was responsible, we'd say this is the person you're looking for, now give us the food, If we knew who was responsible.
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