Seeing by Jos Saramago

ISBN:9780156032735

About the book:
On election day in the capital, it is raining so hard that no one has
bothered to come out to vote. The politicians are growing jittery. Should
they reschedule the elections for another day? Around three oclock, the
rain finally stops. Promptly at four, voters rush to the polling stations, as
if they had been ordered to appear.
But when the ballots are counted, more than 70 percent are blank. The
citizens are rebellious. A state of emergency is declared. But are the
authorities acting too precipitously? Or even blindly? The word evokes
terrible memories of the plague of blindness that hit the city four years
before, and of the one woman who kept her sight. Could she be behind
the blank ballots? A police superintendent is put on the case.
What begins as a satire on governments and the sometimes dubious efficacy of the democratic
system turns into something far more sinister. A singular novel from the author of Blindness.
About the author:
JOS SARAMAGO is one of the most acclaimed writers in the world today. The author of
numerous novels, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1998.
Discussion Questions:
1. The core crisis of this novel, and the foundation of its plot, is a so-called blank revolution,
wherein 83 percent of the votes cast in an imagined capital citys nationwide election are blank.
Discuss SEEING as a critique of democratic electionsand of democracy itself. Try to include
the ideas of blame, public trust, responsibility, liberty, individual expression, and civil rights in
your discussion.

2. Shortly after learning of the pivotal election, we read that the nations minister of defense is a
civilian who had never even done his military service. Explore SEEING as a work of political
satire. Why did one critic call it a timely fable?

3. The weather almost-but-not-quite alters the unfolding of this story on at least two occasions.
On election day, harsh rainfall comes close to causing a complete, citywide no-show at the polls;
later, a continuous, steady, monotonous rain, intense but not violent, delaysand nearly
cancelsthe interior ministers plan for bombarding the city with a presidential manifesto and
other propaganda. So which, in the end, dominates in this story: the laws of Nature or the laws of
Man?

4. One reviewer noted in his appraisal of SEEING that Saramagos capital city sometimes
reminds one of Dr. Seusss Whoville. Would you agree? Why or why not? Consider this:
Although the capitals citizens, in the wake of the blank-ballot incident, find themselves living in
an anarchic state of siege marked by amber alert warnings, curfews, and later, total police
and governmental abandonment, they exist in relative peace and harmony. Did this make sense
to you? Explain.

5. Were you surprised to learn that the government was behind the explosion at the train station?
Why or why not? Cite passages from the text to support your view. Also, describe how
terrorism is viewed over the full course of this novel.

6. Ironic yet knowing, detached yet absorbed, philosophical yet teasing: Discuss the narrator of
SEEING. Was he reliable to you, as a reader? Was he engaging? Was he funny? Defend your
views with excerpts from the book. Also, how wellor, contrarily, how poorlydid the narrator
serve this blatantly allegorical story?

7. At what point does it become clear that SEEING is a sequel of sorts to BLINDNESS,
Saramagos earlier novel? How does this revelation change the focus of SEEING itselfthat is,
what new characters, themes, situations, or plot lines are introduced? And, whether or not youve
read BLINDNESS, do you think readers of SEEING must be familiar with that earlier book to
appreciate this one?

8. During a tense and rueful conversation between the interior minister and the council leader
early in this novel, we read the following exchange: Dont let the devil hear you, minister, The
devil has such good hearing he doesnt need things to be spoken out loud, Well, god helps us
then, Theres no point asking him for help either, he was born stone-deaf. And much later, we
find this interrogative dialogue between the police superintendent and the doctor: Youre not
saying that the police are god are you, We are merely his modest representatives on earth, doctor,
Oh, I thought they were the churches and the priests, The churches and the priests are only
second in the ranks. What, ultimately, does SEEING tell us on the subject of God? And what
about morality and religion more generally?

9. Such well-known fictional inspectors as Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, and Phillip
Marlowe are invoked in these pages, particularly in reference to the police superintendent and his
two bumbling assistants. Can SEEING be read as a work of detective fiction, as a mystery? What
crime, or crimes, are being investigated? What are the clues? What are the red herrings? And
how, if at all, are they solved?

10. The prime minister, the president, the interior minister, the council leader, the police
superintendent, the doctors wife, and so onwho is the lone character in this book with a
proper name? (Hint: Its constant.) Why do you think this is?

11. At numerous points during the police investigation that roughly occupies the second half of
this book, various persons and activities are likened to, or else are distinguished from, the kind
of thing you only see in movies. Is Saramago simply spoofing Hollywood at such moments, or
is he making some sort of larger, broader, or more revealing statement? If you would affirm the
latter, explain why.

12. Newspaper headlines are utilized on several occasions in the telling of this tale. What
function(s) or purpose(s) do they serve? Explain whether and how Thomas Jeffersons famous
claim that Id rather have newspapers without government than government without
newspapers can be applied to SEEING.

13. Who is the man wearing the blue tie with white spots? Who does he work for? What does
he do? Whats his job? And what might he suggest symbolically?

14. Talk about ambiguity of the novels ending. What has happened? What has been done? What
will next occur? What does the future hold for the capital city?

15. Finally, explain the novels introductory quotation (Lets howl, said the dog, from THE
BOOK OF VOICES). How would you apply it to Saramagos story? And what about this novels
title? Given that its precursor is entitled BLINDNESS, who or what does the seeing metaphor
relate to, in your view?