Blindness Characters

The novel’s main protagonist, the doctor’s wife is the only character who can see for most of the book. Although she can still see, the doctor’s wife lies, saying she has also gone blind… read analysis of The doctor’s wife

– The eye doctor, along with the doctor’s wife, is one of the novel’s protagonists; he examines the first man to suffer from “white blindness” and then loses his own sight shortly thereafter… read analysis of The doctor / ophthalmologist

The girl with the dark glasses is one of the novel’s protagonists; she’s a young woman who visits the doctor for an eye infection (hence her dark glasses) and goes blind soon after. The girl… read analysis of The girl with the dark glasses

The old man with the eye patch is one of the novel’s protagonists; he’s a patient of the doctor. The old man has cataracts and has already gone blind in one eye (which he… read analysis of The old man with the black eyepatch

The first blind man’s wife is one of the novel’s protagonists; she drives her husband to visit the doctor at the beginning of the book and then goes blind herself and gets reunited with… read analysis of The first blind man’s wife

The boy with the squint is one of the novel’s protagonists; he gets struck with “white blindness” after visiting the doctor’s office at the same time as the first blind man. The… read analysis of The little boy with the squint

The unnamed narrator of Blindness is not quite omniscient, but he or she is also not confined to the limited perspective of the novel’s many blind characters. Full of irony and sarcasm, the narrative voice… read analysis of The narrator

Although the car-thief initially appears to be a “good Samaritan” when he drives the first blind man home at the beginning of the book, he turns out to be an opportunistic criminal: after dropping… read analysis of The car-thief

The “dog of tears” is an unusually human-like dog who joins the fledgling family led by the doctor’s wife. The doctor’s wife first encounters the dog when she gets lost on the way home… read analysis of The dog of tears

The leader of the thugs is a cruel, gun-toting criminal who leads the gang of blind patients that takes over the hospital and starts controlling its food supply. At first, he demands that all… read analysis of The leader of the thugs

The writer is a blind man who moves with his family into the first blind man and the first blind man’s wife’s apartment after another group of blind people occupies his family’s apartment while… read analysis of The writer

The blind accountant is one of the “thugs” who takes control of their group (and their gun) after the doctor’s wife kills their original leader. When the doctor and the first blind man… read analysis of The blind accountant

The pharmacist’s assistant sells the girl with the dark glasses eye drops for her infection, clumsily hitting on her in the process, and later turns up blind in the hospital. During the middle portion… read analysis of The pharmacist’s assistant

The old woman lives in the apartment below the girl with the dark glasses. After the hospital burns down and the blind inmates escape, the group led by the doctor’s wife decides to visit… read analysis of The old woman

This woman is being raped by the leader of the thugs when the doctor’s wife stabs the leader in the neck with her scissors, killing him. The woman then triumphantly bites off the thug leader’s… read analysis of The woman who says, “Wherever you go, I shall go”

The Ministry of Health is the agency of the Government that takes charge of the initial response to the white blindness epidemic. After going blind, the doctor calls the Ministry of Health and alerts its… read analysis of The Ministry of Health

The Government is a distant, faceless entity that takes nebulous and counterproductive actions to try and contain the outbreak of white blindness. In the quarantine zone, the blind internees hear the Government’s 15 rules… read analysis of The Government

The soldiers are a constantly-changing crew that is charged with preventing the blind internees from leaving the hospital. Frequently confused about what is happening all around them and terrified of going blind themselves, the… read analysis of The soldiers

The police sergeants are the officers who command the soldiers that guard the hospital and who generally communicate with the blind internees when they request resources or assistance (but typically deny their requests). Like the… read analysis of The police sergeants

The man in the hotel is “an old acquaintance” of the girl with the dark glasses who enlists her services as a prostitute on the night that the girl goes blind. The man later… read analysis of The man from the hotel

The taxi-driver drives the first blind man and his wife to the doctor after the car-thief opportunistically steals their car. Later, the taxi-driver also goes blind and ends up in the protagonists’ ward, but… read analysis of The taxi-driver

After the car-thief goes blind while trying to escape with the first blind man’s stolen car, this police officer finds him and helps guide him home—but he never realizes that the thief committed… read analysis of The policeman who takes the car-thief home

This policeman escorts the girl with the dark glasses home after she goes blind at the hotel. The officer makes the girl pay for the taxi ride home as a kind of punishment for what… read analysis of The policeman who takes the girl with the dark glasses home

The maid is working at the hotel when the girl with the dark glasses goes blind while having sex with the man from the hotel. The girl begins screaming and attracts the attention of… read analysis of The maid