"Blindness" and "The Plague"

Paper Summary:

The paper discusses how there is great similarity in the stories, "Blindness" by Jose Saramago and "The Plague" by Albert Camus, both which deal with different types of plagues. The plague by Camus is similar to the black plague, spread by rats. In "Blindness" the white blindness starts with an unnamed man simply called the motorist who becomes blind driving into town. The paper shows how both books offer character studies of people caught or trapped in a situation from which there seems no escape.

From the Paper:

"The children in both Blindness (the little girl) and in the Plague represent innocence caught up in madness. In both stories the madness is caused by a disease but it is the break down of society that is the real story. Without the constraints of society and laws people revert back to their lowest forms, like animals on the hunt for survival. Only the children are innocent and without guile. They are caught in a situation they don't understand. They are the true victims in both stories because there is nothing they can do to help themselves. They can't become a hero like the doctor's wife and the doctor in the Plague. They can't save themselves like Cottard with his evil machinations. They are both left to the vagaries of fate with their only hope in others."

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• Analytical Essay # 123124 : "Drama and 'Oedipus The King'"

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