Ensayo De Ceguera
Enviado por • 20 de Mayo de 2014 • 3.117 Palabras (13 Páginas) • 243 Visitas
Plot: In the second half of the novel, the main characters still find themselves in the quarantined mental hospital, with the overall conditions having deteriorated to the absolute worst. A few days after the original group of seven arrived, the mental hospital received 200 blind inmates and so it reached maximum capacity. Among the new arrivals was the man with the gun, a ruthless tyrant in possession of a gun. The man with the gun soon creates his own gang of armed hoodlums and terrorises the rest of the inmates by beating them and demanding payment to receive food rations, which they always steal. The rest of the residents at the mental hospital decide to comply with the armed gang and give them all of their valuables so as to receive food. For a few days, the gang gives them food, however after wanting more payment and not receiving any due to the fact that everyone had given them all of their valuables, the gang decides that they now want women. At first the rest of the internees are hesitant and believe that it is ridiculous that they should now give up women to receive food. The soldiers guarding on the outside do not intervene with anything that goes on inside the mental hospital as they believe that if the blind internees end up killing themselves, it will be for the better. For a few days, the other internees do not comply to the requests of the armed gang, however after hunger begins to affect everyone, seven women decide to go as payment. Among the seven women are the girl with the dark sunglasses and the doctor’s wife who is still the only internee with sight. After being raped, one of the seven women dies and a proper burial is made for her.
One week passes before the armed gang decides that they now want women again or they will not receive food. After little hesitation due to hunger, 15 different women decide to go as payment. While these women are being raped, they doctor’s wife decides that she had enough of the armed gang, and she decides to grab a pair of scissors which she had with plans of killing the man with the gun. After successfully killing the man with the gun, she takes all of the 15 women who were being raped and makes a quick escape to the other side of the mental hospital. After the death of their leader, the armed hoodlums become disorganized and stop terrorising the rest of the internees. One day after the death of the man with the gun, one of the women who got raped decides to set fire to the section of the mental hospital which houses the armed gang. After successfully setting fire to the section of the armed gang, the fire soon spreads to the entire mental hospital and only a few blind internees are able to escape, mostly comprising of the first group that had arrived along with an old man with a black eye patch. After realising that all of the guarding soldiers were gone, the group of blind internees that survived decide to head for the home of the doctor. On their journey to his home, the group which comprises of the doctor, the doctor’s wife, the old man with the eye patch, the girl with the dark sunglasses, the boy with the squint, the first blind man and the wife of the first blind man find that much of society has broken down after everyone went blind. All of the residents of the city travel in groups searching for food and no other people who are immune to the disease have been found. After finding and staying in the doctor’s home for a few days, the group soon starts to inexplicably regain their sight along with the rest of the city. After contemplating the course of events which had transpired over the last few months, the doctor believes that were always blind and that the “White sickness” is what allowed everyone to finally see.
Characters:
Doctor’s wife: The doctors wife continues to be guiding figure for the other main characters in the novel. As the conditions at the mental hospital began to deteriorate, the doctor’s wife began to play a more important role in the group of original internees. She is still very kind and caring for other characters, however she is often capable of accomplishing difficult tasks for the greater good, such as killing the man with the gun. Throughout the entire novel she retains her sight, and so she is the only character who has witnessed all of the horrors which the “white sickness” has caused.
Doctor: Even though the doctor still continues to be the leader and organizer of many of the internees at the mental hospital, his role soon starts to diminish as the population at the quarantined hospital begins to grow beyond control. The little stability which he can impose over his area of the mental hospital is mosty due to the help of his wife who is not blind.
The Girl with the Dark Sunglasses: The girl with the dark sunglasses continues to demonstrate that she is a compassionate and kind woman as she takes care of the boy with the squint until the end of the novel.
The Man with the Gun: A ruthless tyrant who will stop at nothing to get what he wants, the man with the gun is an internee who creates his own gang of armed hoodlums. Him and his gang begin to terrorise the other internees by stealing their food, beating other residents and raping the woman.
Themes:
The revelation of identity: At the end of the novel, the doctor states that people were always blind and the “white sickness” is what finally allowed them to see. What he meant by this is that the epidemic of blindness and the course of events which occurred afterwards brought out the best and worst qualities in people. It revealed what true human nature was like and so it revealed what each person’s character was truly like.
Destiny: The theme of destiny continues to play a big role in the novel, as the characters who met in the first few pages of the novel manage to stay together for the entire length of their journeys. Their destinies end up intertwining in a way in which would make so close that would virtually become family.
Human Nature: The true human nature of everyone is soon revealed as the conditions reach the absolute lowest at the quarantined hospital. With the lack of food and hygiene, many people resort to terrorising and stealing, showing that many humans are capable of doing terrible things simply to survive.
Double Entry Journal
Quotation #1: “we were already blind the moment we turned blind, fear struck us blind, fear will keep us blind”(129)
Analysis: This quote is stated by the girls with the dark sunglasses as she is recounting how she became blind. This quote can relate to the loss of identity, as fear is what caused to people to lose their identity in the past and fear is what is causing people to lose their identity in the present. An example
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