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SETTING
May 18, 2010 11:05:55 GMT -5
Post by Gwen Bloomsburg on May 18, 2010 11:05:55 GMT -5
Wikipedia defines setting as "the time, location, circumstances in which a story takes place...(that) provides the main backdrop and mood for a story or stories. Setting can be referred to as milieu to include a context (especially society) beyond the immediate surroundings."
In what setting(s) does Blindness take place? How do the characters respond to this/these setting(s)? What is your opinion of this/these setting(s) and why?
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SETTING
Aug 1, 2010 22:58:57 GMT -5
Post by Andres Munoz on Aug 1, 2010 22:58:57 GMT -5
well blindness takes place first in the city and then it goes most of the way till the mental hospital were they leave them in there as animals and letting them in a quarantine. Well the characters dont actually care where they are because they are blind but they feel very bad and cant handle their selfs to move around but there is one person who actually helps a lot. I think the mental hospital is wrong because they are treating them like animals but well they are infective of an epidemic blindness but still they had to treat them better as for understanding of their condition no matter if its contagious they can do another things instead of treating them like that. I think that was a right decision to put them in that place because at least they have a place to sleep and rest instead of killing all of them.
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SETTING
Aug 10, 2010 14:23:09 GMT -5
Post by sgalle on Aug 10, 2010 14:23:09 GMT -5
What do you think the author was attempting to achieve through these settings? What purpose do the settings serve in the novel?
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sebas
New Member
Posts: 8
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SETTING
Aug 15, 2010 20:21:07 GMT -5
Post by sebas on Aug 15, 2010 20:21:07 GMT -5
The setting of this interesting book called Blindness, were actions took place were in the city and in the mental hospital were the blind people were isolated from society because of this epidemic that was happening. The setting of this book was first in the city, before the epidemic was expanded and how the people responded to this setting was in a scare, panic and in a chaos way because people in the city were starting to become blind and people didn't know what to do or what was happening. My opinion for this setting is nor good or bad because in the city everything can happen and sometimes, there is no way to stop or prevent something and that's why this epidemic was spread very fast and easy. When the setting was in the hospital were the blind people were isolated from society, the respond of the character was angry at the beginning because inside there, the soldiers were treating them as animal and sometimes they didn't eat at all, but later on their respond was as if nothing matter because they were losing their hopes and accepting their reality and accept how they had to live. My opinion for this setting is that I didn't like how the soldiers treat them, they are blind, they are sick people that need more care, love and kindness from others but the soldiers didn't act that way.
Sebastian Gordillo Davalos
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SETTING
Aug 16, 2010 19:39:56 GMT -5
Post by majotorressanteli on Aug 16, 2010 19:39:56 GMT -5
The plot begins in an unknown city, which takes the reader to assuming many perspectives; since the author never mentions any details about the city or the characters (he never mentions names). It can be interpreted that it’s a normal, organized city. The story line directly moves to the mental asylum where the people who are already blind and the ones that are suspected of turning blind are put under quarantine. The place was chosen in great detail by the authorities, but the conditions in which they interned the contaminated were not the best, which shows us since the beginning how humans react under emergencies; leaded by fear. The asylum is where all the calamities take place, and the story gets to a point in which there is not enough food or space for everyone and everything is unimaginably dirty, situation to which the characters respond as it is expected; total chaos. The setting goes along perfectly with the plot of the story, because although Saramago presents the story very drastically, his narrative is what would happen in real life if everyone suddenly went blind. Having in account the facts already mentioned, my opinion is that the characters and the setting just adjust to each other to form the calamitous scenario in which the story takes place. Majo Torres-Santeli. Int.
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SETTING
Aug 22, 2010 19:13:49 GMT -5
Post by Melissa Messler on Aug 22, 2010 19:13:49 GMT -5
Blindness setting begins in a city that seemed to be perfect until the epidemic of blindness occurs. In this city the society starts to become blind until the setting is moved to the mental hospital were they are all kept under quarantine. The people in the city didn't feel save, they were worried that they could get the disease and become blind at any moment. The infected people that were kept in the mental hospital couldn't see were they were actually being kept, which was not only a terrible place for so many people but also disgusting. Most of these characters felt scared being in this place even though they couldn't see what it looked like. They felt scared because they were being threatened by a man with a gun who makes the people there give him their valuables in exchange for food. No one felt happy in the mental hospital, not even the doctors wife who is not blind and can see everything thats happening, but cant stop it because no one knows she is not blind. My personal opinion on these settings is that they should keep them somewhere where they cant be in touch with other people, but instead of it being like the mental hospital they are in, they can make it cleaner, nicer and well put for the blind people that have to live there.
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SETTING
Aug 27, 2010 17:17:09 GMT -5
Post by dgodoy on Aug 27, 2010 17:17:09 GMT -5
The time in which the story takes place is maybe in the past, but in recent years, since they talk about some type of technology and stuff like that. The setting of the book Blindness starts in the city where the sudden illness takes place. We can say that the city was normal like any other since the author doesn’t explain much about it. At first everything seems to be fine until the first man becomes blind. From that point the city starts changing since everyone is getting blind and everything is getting out of control. Later the story takes us to another different setting which is the mental hospital. At first the hospital seems to be clean and comfortable for the blind people, but as more and more people kept arriving there, the place became a mess. Nobody like it, and it wasn’t only that they hated it because they have to share food, or because some didn’t have beds to sleep but because the place was disgusting. Since nobody could see except for the doctor’s wife that didn’t went blind, but however that was unknown for the people, they starting living like animals in the hospital, they didn’t care If they weren’t in a bathroom, they live all the garbage from food all over the place, so everyone was unhappy living there. At first it was disturbing for some people but then they had to get use to it. My personal opinion about the setting is that it’s wrong that the government didn’t try to do the best place for these blind people, although they had a place to stay and sleep, the situation wasn’t the best, they needed a nicer place were they can feel comfortable and getting use to the idea that they suddenly became blind. Daniela Godoy
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SETTING
Aug 27, 2010 21:50:18 GMT -5
Post by dome ayala on Aug 27, 2010 21:50:18 GMT -5
The setting takes place in a city which the author does not tell us specifically where it is. It starts when mysteriously a man suddenly turns blind while he is driving his car. Even though we do not know exactly how the setting looks like the author explains it in a way in which I imagine it as a typical street, with the common traffic. Another setting which is shown in the book is the mental asylum where the blind interns have to live. The place turns out in a matter of time a hell for the people that live there. It gets really messy and disorganized and as the doctors wife says "being organized is seeing for us". The characters involvement in this place has a lot to do with the fact that is turns to be the worst place to be in the world. I see it as a dark and fearful environment where desperation is one of the most common feelings. The last setting in the book is the main city where it all started, but now everyone is blind and it does not help that so many people who can not see have to live in such a big place. The chaos starts to be bigger since the streets are filled with dead people that the doctors wife has to see everyday.
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SETTING
Aug 28, 2010 15:49:53 GMT -5
Post by ralbornozr on Aug 28, 2010 15:49:53 GMT -5
The setting of the novel by Saramago is not specified; we have references to a city at first where the blindness takes place, and an abandoned mental hospital where the government sends the blind. At first, he author doesn’t give importance to the city, what he wants is to expose humanity/society and their lack of interest towards difficult situations. The indifference human beings show against the needed, how people see a problem and instead of finding a solution they try to cover it. The references given us by the author, as technology (traffic jams or bottlenecks, guns, telephone) and medical equipment, can situate us as readers in a modern time. Later on, in the asylum, we see every side of humanity in essence. Each character has a role that describes humanity in good and bad scenarios. We can see how the humane and instinctive part of a person comes out. How there’s always someone looking for others and at the same time, we see the desperate ones abusing of the weaker. A situation like this, having people locked inside a place and rejected from society, makes a person bring out their weaknesses and badness.
Rafaela Albornoz R.
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SETTING
Aug 28, 2010 18:34:01 GMT -5
Post by ricardoperez on Aug 28, 2010 18:34:01 GMT -5
The setting of this novel is the city. In the city this catastrophic blindness starts. People are getting blind and nobody knows how to stop this. They get send by the government to this abandoned mental hospital and most people stay there and get isolated. They take them to quarantine.
The characters at first don't know what is happening and don't know where they are going. I think that in that circumstance people need to be told where they are and don't do what they want. Its true that they are trying to stop this catastrophe but I think it is unfair with the people already blind.
Ricardo Perez
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SETTING
Aug 29, 2010 2:31:45 GMT -5
Post by jorgelara on Aug 29, 2010 2:31:45 GMT -5
the setting takes place first in a unnamed city where suddenly people are starting to become blind. this setting does not have many details but Saramago makes us belief that the scene is taked place in a normal city with its regular problems. i think the author puts this main stage to try represent how people live and think now a days 24/7. people that doesent care of anybodys problems but themeselves a social independent type of relationship. But later when the plague of blindness has alreafy spread and the second setting comes which a mental asylum. in the mental asylum Saramagos gives us a creepy setting of sadness, desperation and pain. he puts this second setting as an oposite of the first one that shows how people need to work together to survive, but still there are some problems such as: people taking advantage of others and some inhumanity. buy the author put this setting to us for imagine how hard it is to be blind and beleive you are a contagious virus. in my opinion i really enjoyed reading the novel because it is very cool to see how an author can create a whole novel only with two settings and limited details about characters!
Jorge Lara
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SETTING
Aug 29, 2010 12:01:28 GMT -5
Post by vperez on Aug 29, 2010 12:01:28 GMT -5
The novel Blindness has two different settings throughout the story. The first setting is this unknown city which the author doesn’t give its name, were the epidemic starts. I suppose this was a normal organized city with independent people living and working, before the virus expanded. When people started to get blind chaos and panic begun and that is when the second setting comes which is a mental asylum. The government took people who got blind to this isolated place for the epidemic not to keep on expanding. This mental hospital was described as a mess, really dirty, sad people not knowing what to do or what was happening, and I imagine it like that and people starting to get desperate. The last setting is the city again, but after all the epidemic and chaos, so really disorganized with dead bodies in the streets, people doing whatever they can to get food and a complete disaster. In these two different settings we can see how differently people react. In the first setting in the city when no one was blind or only a few, people were independent they did what they needed to do by their own and that way things worked perfect. We are able to see how that changes in the second setting in the hospital, people had become blind and the only one how is able to see is the doctors wife, then people start to help each other, to collect valuable things for exchanging them for food and so, they are not independent anymore and they have to work together. I think the setting of the hospital is okay, the government isolated them for the epidemic not to expand but they should of help them clean someway and keep more organized. vperez
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SETTING
Aug 29, 2010 12:17:19 GMT -5
Post by mpbravo on Aug 29, 2010 12:17:19 GMT -5
The setting of the novel Blindness, takes place mostly in the city which has been hit by an epidemic called the white blindness. People inside the city start to lose their sight and many scientists and doctors weren’t able to discover why people were getting blind. The author, Jose Saramago wants to expose people inside the city to this issue while the reader can notice how people react towards a chaos, to cover the problem and do not find a wise solution and how humans led out a new personality which no one met. Inside the city when almost everyone loses their sight, we can clearly define as a disorder, chaos and confusion. People were sent to an empty mental hospital with many beds and wards for some people but not for the entire city. This hospital converts in people worst nightmare were they need to struggle for food, a bed and guide by themselves with a white vision which don’t know when is it going to stop. The characters, at first they didn’t know what was happening, or either what to do. They simply start to lose their faith and do not know how to react as a human being. Later we can see how people start to adapt to the city as it is, stay in groups and desperately find food and shelter. Also as always we have the strong ones abusing the weaker individuals and making this destroyed city as I said before their worst nightmare. I have been impacted by how people can react to a problem and how the environment and city can change people the way they are.
Maria Paula Bravo
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SETTING
Aug 29, 2010 12:29:51 GMT -5
Post by mariapaulaborja on Aug 29, 2010 12:29:51 GMT -5
There is an epidemic in which everybody becomes blind just suddenly, they dont find an explanation. Blindness mainly takes place in the city. Moving on to the hospital where blind people were taken. By noticing the way things are described meaning; technology use, transportation, etc, we can notice the story takes place not many years ago. Then, the story takes place starting with the places where the people started getting blind; the man in the car, the woman in a hotel room, the doctor in his house, the man in the street. At first the city where blindness occurs is in normal conditions, but after the epidemic spreads the author expresses the terrible conditions that everything ends up. The hospital is completely careless aswell as the guards that dont help the blind people, they become isolated from eveything. When they finally get out of that place, the only woman that hasnt go blind expresses how distroyed and terrible conditions the whole city is found. At first people are just scared for being blind with no reason, there is caos, and after the people are getting used to the fact they can see, but they are still desperate because of the conditions. Jose Saramago doesnt describe with so much detail, but still he describes in a clear way in which we can even visualize.
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SETTING
Aug 29, 2010 13:11:44 GMT -5
Post by franciscaalarcon on Aug 29, 2010 13:11:44 GMT -5
This novel develops in two main settings. At the begging the author describes a city with regular people. The city seems pretty normal until the population starts getting blind. Then there is a radical change. Fear, desperation and panic start spreading all over. The city becomes a chaos and authorities decide to intervene and give the blind a “hospital”. This place was a disaster it was nothing like a hospital. The infected didn’t receive any attention because people from the outside didn’t want to get the virus. It was like a prison. They had to fallow orders, couldn’t get out and were completely isolated. As the number of infected increased it got much dirtier and chaotic. There was less room, less food and less hope. The struggle and suffer was intense. Competition, anger and debility started to rice. The place was miserable and unfortunate. The setting of the city reappears at the end of the book. People manage to get out from the mental hospital and find a completely dysfunctional city. All population was blind so nothing worked. They acted like animals; fighting over food and shelter. All that was left was an abandoned city full of blind citizens that tried to survive.
Francisca Alarcon
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