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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 from the supermarket to the store, where the others are waiting for her; the dog sits with her while she weeps in distress. The doctor’s wife then brings the dog home to the rest of the group—they feed the dog, who in turn protects them from possible threats (mostly the packs of dogs and blind people who now roam the city’s streets). But Saramago does not narrate this relationship as transactional—rather, the dog of tears is an important part of the blind people’s family, both beloved by and deeply empathetic for the people who have adopted him. This is a remarkable reversal of metaphor, since throughout the book, various characters compare the blind internees in quarantine to “dogs” because of the capacities they lose and inhumane environment in which they are forced to live.
The dog of tears Quotes in Blindness
The Blindness quotes below are all either spoken by The dog of tears or refer to The dog of tears. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 17 Quotes
Most likely other blind people closed it, converting the basement into an enormous tomb and I am to blame for what happened, when I came running out of there with my bags, they must have suspected that it was food and went in search of it, In a way, everything we eat has been stolen from the mouths of others and if we rob them of too much we are responsible for their death, one way or another we are all murderers.
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Get the entire Blindness LitChart as a printable PDF.
The dog of tears Character Timeline in Blindness
The timeline below shows where the character The dog of tears appears in Blindness. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 13
...weeps, and then a group of dogs approaches her, sniffing at the food. She embraces one of the dogs , which licks up her tears, and then looks up and sees “a great map...
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...she decided to leave the door to the storeroom closed. They even feed the “ dog of tears ,” who barks at the people who approach their door.
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Chapter 14
...approaches them, frustratedly demands her food, and then becomes hysterical when nobody replies to her. The dog of tears barks at the old woman, causing her to run back to her apartment.
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...some food to the old woman. The woman complains that they are wasting food on the dog , but she thanks them and gives them a key to the building’s back door....
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...lady some more food and the keys to the girl’s flat, and then they watch the dog of tears eating a hen in the yard and hastily burying its carcass. Just after it finishes,...
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Chapter 15
...blind man and his wife get used to the feeling of their street corner, and the dog of tears sniffs the wind as though to remember the spot’s special scent. The group collects beans...
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Chapter 17
...in the hospital, but then they go to breakfast. After eating, they go outside with the dog of tears and find the city even filthier and more dilapidated than before. Out of empathy and...
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The doctor’s wife checks the same street map where she first encountered the dog of tears , and then she leads her husband and the dog to the supermarket two blocks...
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...the six steps to the church’s front door. Knowing that dogs aren’t allowed inside churches, the dog of tears hesitates but enters, nonetheless. The church is completely packed with people, but the dog growls...
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...that they’ll all regain their eyesight. The doctor’s wife starts crying out of joy, and the dog of tears goes over to lick up her tears.
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