A Take On Jose Saramago's Blindness

Fear is one of the most common feelings that we humans have in everyday life, it is that emotion of anguish caused by real or imagined danger. Over the years it can be seen that fear has been present in various events in the world, in some cases such as war, disease, loneliness, and I have even perceived that we usually fear the unknown. White blindness that appears suddenly and spreads like a plague with people who have had some contact with the infected. For this reason, the State decides to quarantine both the not infected and the infected. During this isolation, the blind will have to face inhumane conditions to survive, because those who had promised to help and provide the basic needs that are needed in any situation, did not comply with what was guaranteed and also instilled fear in people by threatening to take away their life if they approached. As a result of all the pressure caused by the soldiers, the infected begin to have differences between themselves, and discussions have generated that lead to inspiring fear and resentment. Does fear create aggressiveness in people as a survival instinct?

All humans react differently to fear, some paralyze, accelerate, others hide; however, we often respond to fear aggressively, that is when people do not measure the consequences of their actions. Living beings always seek to be safe and react to any dangerous situation through the survival instinct that is usually to attack what or who caused it. We can see it with animals: when they are hungry they look for the weakest prey. This example is perfectly reflected in the book.

Those who have the weapon seize the food, and they require others to exchange any valuable object for some food. Food, the most basic need for survival, and yet some entitled themselves the absolute right over it. We live in an individualistic society where each one watches over himself and seeks his or her own good first. Without having the fundamentals to survive, people seek to get what they need regardless of whether they are passing over someone or causing harm. In the same way, when we always seek individual well-being, we usually destroy what surrounds us. In the story, the government gives soldiers the order to lock up the blind and promise to give everything they need and help, ensuring that they are the best for everyone, although clearly, the soldiers only looked after their own protection.

As has happened around the world with the thousands of diseases that have been generated, the sick are always separated from the healthy under the promise of guaranteed safety and health. Nevertheless, at the first moment of feeling threatened by the sick, those who were lucky enough not to catch the illness will tend to kill them without putting much thought around it. When people feel threatened fear takes over and makes them not think clearly about what to do.

Now that we realize the aggressiveness of us humans, for which we sometimes need Saramago’s crude descriptions, let us embrace our nature well enough that we can put fairness, tolerance, and common sense above it.

By Laura Gómez Gómez, 10B