الاكاديمية للدراسات الاجتماعية و الانسانية
Volume 16, Numéro 1, Pages 183-193
2024-01-23

The Insightful Blindness Of Apocalypse In José Saramago’s Blindness

Authors : Elhamel Lamdjed . Mehiri Ramdane .

Abstract

The current article tackles the apocalypse theme through José Saramago’s novel, Blindness. It tends to investigate the tangible reasons for the swift prevalence of that pandemic through the lens of the conspiracy theory. It also delves into the ironic significance of this blindness and how it deepens people’s insight to uncover the hypocrisies of the human race. The ideological conflict between the hegemonic system and the blind masses is of paramount importance to portray the different shifts from that fake utopian reality to the dystopian apocalyptic chaos which is manipulated by the tyrannical system. This ideological strife between the system and the internees is portrayed to highlight the depth of the individual’s existential crisis. Therefore, the investigation is based on the approach of cultural materialism and the existential theory to dig out the conspiracy’s dimensions. Eventually, the findings show that this apocalyptic blindness has dual effect. It is a part of the system’s conspiring plot to subdue the masses, nevertheless; it arouses the internees’ awareness to figure out this conspiracy and to deepen their insight about the human hypocrisy.

Keywords

Apocalypse ; Blindness ; insight ; existential crisis