Blindness

by

José Saramago

The Mental Hospital Symbol Analysis

The Mental Hospital Symbol Icon

Saramago uses the setting of the mental hospital to show how circumstances shape people, even to the point of defining their identities. When an epidemic of “white blindness” strikes, the Government in the story immediately sets up a quarantine in an abandoned mental hospital. The novel frequently compares the blind to the insane, who used to be house in the asylum—when the building eventually burns down, Saramago’s narrator exclaims that “the madmen escape.” Indeed, blindness becomes “madness” not because the blind are somehow mentally defective—rather, the violent, filthy, inhumane conditions of the asylum drive otherwise mentally sound people mad and strip them of their individuality.

The mental hospital also represents the illusion of safety that governments provide during times of crisis. Though the hospital is ostensibly delegated as a safe shelter for the blind internees, when they’re thrown inside and left to their own devices, the hospital becomes both a kind of prison and a kind of laboratory for the formation of a new society—the blind are left without resources and forced to organize themselves in order to guarantee their survival. In this way, the mental hospital symbolizes the incompetence and ineffectively of government aid during crises.

The Mental Hospital Quotes in Blindness

The Blindness quotes below all refer to the symbol of The Mental Hospital. 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 4 Quotes

When she rejoined her husband, she asked him, Can you imagine where they've brought us, No, she was about to add, To a mental asylum, but he anticipated her, You're not blind, I cannot allow you to stay here, Yes, you're right, I'm not blind, Then I'm going to ask them to take you home, to tell them that you told a lie in order to remain with me, There's no point, they cannot hear you through there, and even if they could, they would pay no attention, But you can see, For the moment, I shall almost certainly turn blind myself one of these days, or any minute now, Please, go home, Don't insist, besides, I'll bet the soldiers would not let me get as far as the stairs, I cannot force you, No, my love, you can't, I'm staying to help you and the others who may come here, but don't tell them I can see, What others, You surely don't think we shall be here on our own, This is madness, What did you expect, we're in a mental asylum.

Related Characters: The doctor’s wife (speaker), The doctor / ophthalmologist (speaker), The Government, The soldiers
Related Symbols: Blindness and Sight, The Mental Hospital
Page Number: 40
Explanation and Analysis:

The word Attention was uttered three times, then the voice began, the Government regrets having been forced to exercise with all urgency what it considers to be its rightful duty, to protect the population by all possible means in this present crisis, when something with all the appearance of an epidemic of blindness has broken out, provisionally known as the white sickness, and we are relying on the public spirit and cooperation of all citizens to stem any further contagion, assuming that we are dealing with a contagious disease and that we are not simply witnessing a series of as yet inexplicable coincidences. The decision to gather together in one place all those infected, and, in adjacent but separate quarters all those who have had any kind of contact with them, was not taken without careful consideration. The Government is fully aware of its responsibilities and hopes that those to whom this message is directed will, as the upright citizens they doubtless are, also assume their responsibilities, bearing in mind that the isolation in which they now find themselves will represent, above any personal considerations, an act of solidarity with the rest of the nation's community.

Related Characters: The Government (speaker), The soldiers
Related Symbols: The Mental Hospital
Page Number: 42-3
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 7 Quotes

The soldiers would have liked to aim their weapons and, without compunction, shoot down those imbeciles moving before their eyes like lame crabs, waving their unsteady pincers in search of their missing leg. They knew what had been said in the barracks that morning by the regimental commander, that the problem of these blind internees could be resolved only by physically wiping out the lot of them, those already there and those still to come, without any phoney humanitarian considerations, his very words, just as one amputates a gangrenous limb in order to save the rest of the body, The rabies of a dead dog, he said, to illustrate the point, is cured by nature. For some of the soldiers, less sensitive to the beauties of figurative language, it was difficult to understand what a dog with rabies had to do with the blind, but the word of a regimental commander, once again figuratively speaking, is worth its weight in gold, no man rises to so high a rank in the army without being right in everything he thinks, says and does.

Related Characters: The narrator (speaker), The soldiers
Related Symbols: Blindness and Sight, Guns, The Mental Hospital
Page Number: 101
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 11 Quotes

Arriving at this point, the blind accountant, tired of describing so much misery and sorrow, would let his metal punch fall to the table, he would search with a trembling hand for the piece of stale bread he had put to one side while he fulfilled his obligations as chronicler of the end of time, but he would not find it, because another blind man, whose sense of smell had become very keen out of dire necessity, had filched it. Then, renouncing his fraternal gesture, the altruistic impulse that had brought him rushing to this side, the blind accountant would decide that the best course of action, if he was still in time, was to return to the third ward on the left, there, at least, however much the injustices of those hoodlums stirred up in him feelings of honest indignation, he would not go hungry.

Related Characters: The narrator (speaker), The doctor / ophthalmologist, The blind accountant
Related Symbols: Blindness and Sight, The Mental Hospital
Page Number: 162
Explanation and Analysis:
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.

Related Characters: The narrator (speaker), The doctor’s wife, The leader of the thugs
Related Symbols: The Mental Hospital
Page Number: 192-3
Explanation and Analysis:

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.

Related Characters: The doctor’s wife, The old man with the black eyepatch, The leader of the thugs, The soldiers
Related Symbols: The Mental Hospital
Page Number: 195
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 13 Quotes

Say to a blind man, you're free, open the door that was separating him from the world, Go, you are free, we tell him once more, and he does not go, he has remained motionless there in the middle of the road, he and the others, they are terrified, they do not know where to go, the fact is that there is no comparison between living in a rational labyrinth, which is, by definition, a mental asylum and venturing forth, without a guiding hand or a dog-leash, into the demented labyrinth of the city where memory will serve no purpose, for it will merely be able to recall the images of places but not the paths whereby we might get there. Standing in front of the building which is already ablaze from end to end, the blind inmates can feel the living waves of heat from the fire on their faces, they receive them as something which in a way protects them, just as the walls did before, prison and refuge at once. They stay together, pressed up against each other, like a flock, no one there wants to be the lost sheep, for they know that no shepherd will come looking for them.

Related Characters: The narrator (speaker), The doctor’s wife, The soldiers
Related Symbols: Blindness and Sight, The Mental Hospital
Page Number: 217
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 17 Quotes

Most likely other blind people closed it, converting the basement into an enormous tomb and I am to blame for what happened, when I came running out of there with my bags, they must have suspected that it was food and went in search of it, In a way, everything we eat has been stolen from the mouths of others and if we rob them of too much we are responsible for their death, one way or another we are all murderers.

Related Characters: The doctor’s wife (speaker), The doctor / ophthalmologist (speaker), The dog of tears
Related Symbols: Blindness and Sight, The Mental Hospital
Page Number: 314
Explanation and Analysis:
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Blindness PDF

The Mental Hospital Symbol Timeline in Blindness

The timeline below shows where the symbol The Mental Hospital appears in Blindness. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 4
Good, Evil, and Moral Conscience Theme Icon
Narrative, Ideology, and Identity Theme Icon
...has caused their blindness. Of the city’s vacant buildings, the minister chooses an empty mental hospital as the quarantine site. There will be one wing for the blind and another for... (full context)
Good, Evil, and Moral Conscience Theme Icon
Narrative, Ideology, and Identity Theme Icon
...Logistics and Security sends all the blind patients, their families, and their colleagues to the hospital. The doctor and the doctor’s wife are the first to arrive. They pass the soldiers... (full context)
Good, Evil, and Moral Conscience Theme Icon
Narrative, Ideology, and Identity Theme Icon
...wing. Finally, the same announcement will play every day as new people arrive at the hospital. (full context)
Chapter 5
Good, Evil, and Moral Conscience Theme Icon
Biological Needs and Human Society Theme Icon
...patients. When they enter, the doctor explains that there are six patients already in the hospital and that they have room for all the newcomers. The five new patients, who just... (full context)
Good, Evil, and Moral Conscience Theme Icon
Biological Needs and Human Society Theme Icon
...after they eat, the first blind man and his wife take a walk around the hospital wing. (full context)
Good, Evil, and Moral Conscience Theme Icon
Biological Needs and Human Society Theme Icon
...soldiers probably do not even know that more people have entered this wing of the hospital. The taxi-driver goes outside and yells that there are 11 of them now, but the... (full context)
Good, Evil, and Moral Conscience Theme Icon
Biological Needs and Human Society Theme Icon
Narrative, Ideology, and Identity Theme Icon
...were promised a cure, not a quarantine, and the doctor notes that things in the hospital are becoming tense. No more food comes on this day, and the injured car-thief’s leg... (full context)
Good, Evil, and Moral Conscience Theme Icon
...to go outside and plead for help. After falling down, he crawls outside to the hospital’s front door, where he reflects on the morality of stealing the first blind man’s car.... (full context)
Chapter 6
Existence, Uncertainty, and Autonomy Theme Icon
Good, Evil, and Moral Conscience Theme Icon
...a grave, although she does glimpse “the terrified faces” of the infected patients across the hospital. She and the doctor consider asking the soldiers for a shovel. Meanwhile, the girl with... (full context)
Existence, Uncertainty, and Autonomy Theme Icon
Good, Evil, and Moral Conscience Theme Icon
...a spade. However, the sergeant declares that there isn’t anything of the sort at the hospital, and he tries to dissuade the doctor’s wife against burying the body. The doctor’s wife... (full context)
Good, Evil, and Moral Conscience Theme Icon
Narrative, Ideology, and Identity Theme Icon
...the others dismiss her idea and go back inside. Everyone has learned to navigate the hospital. The narrator comments that those who are “gifted” even develop “frontal vision” like the doctor’s... (full context)
Existence, Uncertainty, and Autonomy Theme Icon
Good, Evil, and Moral Conscience Theme Icon
Narrative, Ideology, and Identity Theme Icon
...In the future, the sergeant says, the army will simply leave the food outside the hospital and shoot anyone who gets too close to them. (full context)
Chapter 7
Good, Evil, and Moral Conscience Theme Icon
...does. The blind man then follows the commotion made by the other patients to the hospital’s front door. (full context)
Good, Evil, and Moral Conscience Theme Icon
Biological Needs and Human Society Theme Icon
...the sergeant is trying to frighten the roughly 200 newcomers who are headed into the hospital. There is not enough space, but rather than massacring the blind, they decide to open... (full context)
Good, Evil, and Moral Conscience Theme Icon
Biological Needs and Human Society Theme Icon
Narrative, Ideology, and Identity Theme Icon
...new internees find their way to the empty ward in the right-hand wing of the hospital, with the other blind people. But space soon runs out, so the new internees spread... (full context)
Chapter 8
Good, Evil, and Moral Conscience Theme Icon
Biological Needs and Human Society Theme Icon
The new arrivals bring “two advantages”: first, with the hospital full, people can “establish and maintain stable and lasting relations” with one another. Second, with... (full context)
Chapter 9
Good, Evil, and Moral Conscience Theme Icon
Biological Needs and Human Society Theme Icon
At first, the internees satisfy their bathroom-related needs without conflict. But with the hospital full, “the filth” is indescribable: the bathrooms clog up, and the internees start defecating in... (full context)
Good, Evil, and Moral Conscience Theme Icon
Biological Needs and Human Society Theme Icon
...regained her sight after being blind like everyone else. Overcome by the stench of the hospital’s unwashed residents and their feces, however, she starts to wonder whether she can really clean... (full context)
Chapter 10
Existence, Uncertainty, and Autonomy Theme Icon
Good, Evil, and Moral Conscience Theme Icon
Biological Needs and Human Society Theme Icon
...floor: they are the people couldn’t find a bed when they first arrived in the hospital.” She stops to watch a couple have sex—not because she’s jealous, but because she feels... (full context)
Chapter 11
Good, Evil, and Moral Conscience Theme Icon
Biological Needs and Human Society Theme Icon
Narrative, Ideology, and Identity Theme Icon
...instead chronicle the inmates’ lack of food and resources, note that the thieves made the hospital’s sanitary situation even worse by blocking access a bathroom, and condemn them for hoarding and... (full context)
Good, Evil, and Moral Conscience Theme Icon
Narrative, Ideology, and Identity Theme Icon
...to wash the dead woman’s body, “to deliver her purified to the earth.” In the hospital’s dining hall, she layers the plastic bags from the food inside one another, and then... (full context)
Chapter 12
Existence, Uncertainty, and Autonomy Theme Icon
Good, Evil, and Moral Conscience Theme Icon
Biological Needs and Human Society Theme Icon
...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... (full context)
Existence, Uncertainty, and Autonomy Theme Icon
Good, Evil, and Moral Conscience Theme Icon
Biological Needs and Human Society Theme Icon
Narrative, Ideology, and Identity Theme Icon
...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... (full context)
Existence, Uncertainty, and Autonomy Theme Icon
Good, Evil, and Moral Conscience Theme Icon
Biological Needs and Human Society Theme Icon
Narrative, Ideology, and Identity Theme Icon
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... (full context)
Chapter 13
Existence, Uncertainty, and Autonomy Theme Icon
Good, Evil, and Moral Conscience Theme Icon
Biological Needs and Human Society Theme Icon
Narrative, Ideology, and Identity Theme Icon
There’s a big difference between “rational labyrinth” of the hospital and “the demented labyrinth of the city.” The blind huddle together outside the hospital, unsure... (full context)
Existence, Uncertainty, and Autonomy Theme Icon
Good, Evil, and Moral Conscience Theme Icon
...mentally plots out her return to the store where her husband and companions from the hospital are waiting. Then, she starts descending into the pitch-black basement and begins to panic: in... (full context)
Existence, Uncertainty, and Autonomy Theme Icon
Biological Needs and Human Society Theme Icon
Narrative, Ideology, and Identity Theme Icon
...scissors would now be melted into one because of the fire that burned down the hospital. Fortunately, the doctor has their keys; then the rest admit that, for various reasons, they... (full context)
Chapter 15
Existence, Uncertainty, and Autonomy Theme Icon
Good, Evil, and Moral Conscience Theme Icon
Biological Needs and Human Society Theme Icon
...and his wife’s house is orderly, as they left it when they went to the hospital, but covered with a layer of dust. For “the seven pilgrims,” it is like “paradise.”... (full context)
Chapter 17
Existence, Uncertainty, and Autonomy Theme Icon
Good, Evil, and Moral Conscience Theme Icon
Biological Needs and Human Society Theme Icon
...bickering about why the doctor had sex with the girl with the glasses in the hospital, but then they go to breakfast. After eating, they go outside with the dog of... (full context)