Blindness

The doctor, an ophthalmologist, is one of the seven main characters of the novel. The first blind man visits him for treatment before anyone knows it’s an epidemic. When the doctor examines the blind man’s eyes, nothing seems out of place, and there’s no known reason he should be blind. The night after the blind man’s visit, the doctor goes home to research the man’s condition but falls blind shortly after. The doctor sets the rest of the plot in motion because he immediately realizes the blindness is contagious. When he calls the government to sound the alarm, he is dismissed until he contacts a colleague at the hospital, who is also seeing similar patients. Only then is the doctor taken seriously. The doctor’s characterization as an independently qualified analytical expert who is logical, levelheaded, thoughtful, and optimistic, lends credence to the novel’s major conflict (contagious blindness), and offers readers answers to their more practical questions. As the plot advances, the doctor loses more status due to his blindness, ultimately culminating in a significant shift in the power dynamic between the doctor and his wife. This power shift is symbolic of the larger thematic conversation happening in the novel around society at large.