102 pages 3 hours read

José Saramago

Blindness

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1995

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Reading Questions & Paired Texts

Reading Check and Short Answer questions on key points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

Chapters 1-4

Reading Check

1. What is the narrator’s point of view?

2. Who wrote “a doctor is worth several men”?

3. Whose idea is it to quarantine the blind and the contaminated?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. When does the First Blind Man become suspicious of the stranger who came to his aid?

2. What similar experience do the Car Thief and the Doctor have before going blind?

3. Why does the Policeman ask the Girl With Dark Glasses if she has money?

4. What happens when the First Blind Man tries to go to a different ward?

Paired Resource

“The Case of the Diamond Princess: Stranded at Sea in a Pandemic”

  • This case study discusses the quarantine of passengers on the Diamond Princess cruise ship at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • The resource relates to the theme of the Fragility of Society.
  • What happens to trust in established authority figures when normal policies, rules, and regulations are suspended in the face of a poorly understood threat?

Chapters 5-7

Reading Check

1. What explanation does the Taxi Driver propose for the blindness?

2.

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