Introduction
Blindness
By: José Saramago
The book Blindness is a novel about a city that is struck with a blindness epidemic. All of the citizens affected by the overwhelming disease see a white film over the world. The blindness, in this case, is contagious and is spread throughout the city. It starts with a man, known as "the blind man", that suddenly stopped at a red light because of his sudden loss of sight. The government then gets involved and realizes that there is a problem occurring. They then gather those that are affected and keeps the blind in an abandoned insane asylum. They all decide to rally together and find a way to escape. Along the way, they face many obstacles, other than the blindness, and deal with both positive and negative situations that stand in there way.
About the author:
Author, Jose Saramago is a Portuguese writer that enjoys diving into real life issues and dramatizing them for his readers. In 1998 Jose received a Nobel Prize in literature. Other pieces Saramago is known for writing are: The Gospel According to Jesus Christ, All the Names, and the sequel to Blindness, named Seeing, and many more are all great pieces of writing that represent Saramago as both an author and a person. Saramago approaches a unique writing style in Blindness by incorrectly structuring the piece. The author does not separate ideas or quotes my new paragraphs, each page is just a huge block of text. Although this can make the book hard to read, it makes it unique and separates him from more traditional writers.
Task
1. Before you start your research, write a description (a paragraph or more) as to how you think the visually impaired lives their lives. What do they see? How do they complete simple, everyday tasks? Do not complete any research before you do this. Write about what you already know and interpret about blind people. Once you finish this you should also be through the first quarter of your book.
2. Now that you have written what you think living life without sight is like use, the given links, your own research, and your book to create a graphic organizer over what it’s like to be blind in real life, and how Saramago portrays it in the story. This should also take you a couple of days to do research and discover information within your book.
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https://youtu.be/PPGTfUr6O8o (Youtube video over what a blind man sees)
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https://youtu.be/dNZQ0dIAlvI?t=7 (A Youtube video showing you what a legally blind person sees. You do not have to watch all five minutes, but it’s a good simulation)
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https://youtu.be/KMwx2jW6xH8?t=123 (Youtube video over the positives of being blind)
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https://www.thoughtco.com/what-do-blind-people-see-4153577 (Article over the different types of blindness)
3. Now that you have done thorough research and should be close to, if not finished with your reading. Write an essay comparing and contrasting what it's like to be blind in reality versus how the author portrays it. Why does he describe blindness the way he does? How does the author's description of the disease contribute to the story's theme, tone, figurative language,etc.?
Process
1. Create a blank google doc, then type your description of the initial information you have about being blind. When finished share the document with me.
2. Below is the link to the graphic organizer. Fill the organizer out thoroughly with five or more bullet points of information:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ktC5Mgvlqg6b0TjD0TJCYrXU2zPVU18t7GrGpdZ0Iyc/edit
3. Create another blank document for your essay. You will share your final draft with me that will be graded using the rubric stated under evaluation.
4. Print off and complete this word search in your spare time for extra credit:
http://puzzlemaker.discoveryeducation.com/code/BuildWordSearch.asp
Evaluation
Essay Rubric:
A (100-90):
To achieve this grade you need to write a well thought out essay with little to no grammar errors. You need to show both examples from your book and connect your points to real life events. They can be world wide, national, or even personal events. Your topic has been stated and focused on through out the entire piece. The essay flows well and is very organized. You will also be able to clearly hear the writers voice throughout the entire piece. The writer read the entire book and displays in in their writing.
B (89-80)
To achieve this grade you need to write a well thought out essay with few grammar errors. You need to show both examples from your book and connect your points to real life events. They can be world wide, national, or even personal events. Your topic has been stated and strives away from the initial thought through out the entire piece. The essay flows well and is has few organizational errors. You will also be able to clearly hear the writers voice throughout most of the piece. The writer read the entire book and displays in in their writing.
C (79-70)
To achieve this grade you need to write a well thought out essay with some grammar errors. You need to show both examples from your book and connect your points to real life events. The writer connects ideas to a broad event with little to no detail. Your topic has been stated and gets off topic throughout the piece. The essay flows and has multiple organizational errors. The writer also seems to second guess there idea throughout the piece. The writer read most of the book and displays in in their writing.
D (69-50)
To achieve this grade you need to write an essay with multiple grammar errors. You need to show both examples from your book not connect it to real life events. Your topic has been stated and not focused on through out the entire piece. The essay doesn't flow and is not organized. There is no voice in the writing. The writer read some of the book and displays in in their writing.
F (59-0)
There is little to no work turned in. The writer shows no effort in paper or displays they did not read the book.
Conclusion
Project:
By completing this assignment and showing your full effort you will show me how you interpreted the book. Also, by completing this you can prove that you are able to connect a fictional novel to real life. When turning in your final essay you should be finished with your book and ready for a quiz over the book at any time.
My opinion on the book:
Overall I would defiantly recommend this book to someone. It was a well-developed story that touched on timeless topics in today's society, as well as things that could never happen. I enjoyed the fact that the author took scary and important things, over exaggerated them, but still made sure it maintained is realness. It was very comforting that these things could not happen to me to this extent, but still spread awareness that issues like this are going on in the real world. The unique writing style Saramago takes on is also a technique that creates a sense of remembrance to the reader and makes the book hard to forget.