Blindness

I must admit I am terrified of being blind, in fact sometimes I dream about it and when I wake up my palms are usually sweaty. Absolutely horrifying prospect! I like to think our dreams are sending us a message, the sub conscious and super conscious is at work and I usually try to find out what they mean, so when I find out that dreaming about being blind means you are ignoring the most obvious thing in front of you, isn’t every encouraging. The proverbial “turning a blind eye” applies quite literally to this instance.

But this post isn’t about me going blind or my dreams – it’s about the book I am reading and yes it is called Blindness. Supposed to be a literary piece of art, the author, Jose Saramago, is a revered Portuguese writer and over the years many of his books have been translated into English. In 2008, Blindness was turned into a movie starring Mark Ruffalo and Julianne Moore.

As you must have guessed the book is about people going blind, at the drop of a hat. It starts with this one guy waiting to drive his car at the traffic light only to realize he cannot move it anymore because he has been struck blind. Moments later, people come by to help him and one by one at some point they all become blind too. So it’s a blindness that is contagious. I sure don’t want to be anywhere near that city!

With the epidemic of blindness spreading, the Government takes all the blind people and isolates them into a mental hospital with very little supplies and food. As more and more people arrive at the hospital, the situation becomes desperate and the blind are fighting for whatever limited resources are available.

One woman, who is among the blind, fakes to be so she can be with her husband and she is watching their plight. So far it sounds like a sordid, grim tale of human tragedies and how we deal with them. I can only guess what's coming next is the cannibal nature of humans and how we deal with our surroundings when the survival mode kicks in.

Blindness hasn't thrilled me yet but maybe that will change.