Blindness

Humans and animals have been companions for thousands of years. At the surface, it may seem like a purely biologically symbiotic relationship, but while the symbiosis is true, the relationship is deeper than that. Whether either participant is concious of it or not, animals provide a number of emotional and psychological benefits for the human, and vice versa. In the works of fiction we are studying, this relationship is no clearer than in Jose Saramago's …

…of extreme isolation is often insanity, as we no doubt learned from the character Arthur Vickers from "One's a Heifer". By joining with the human characters in their times of lowest morale, the animals of Blindness and The Lamp at Noon and Other Storiesprovide a means of continuum for the story from a certain crisis. This mirrors reality: by use of animal companionship, we can see how our predecessors survived the isolated situations of pioneering.