In José Saramago’s Blindness, the epidemic causes white blindness.
People affected by the unexplained disease do not see darkness; instead, they describe an intense white field or “sea of milk.” The unusual symptom gives the epidemic its distinctive name and separates Saramago’s novel from more conventional portrayals of blindness.
The first blind man is quarantined, and the illness spreads through the population despite official efforts to contain it. The government places victims in an abandoned mental asylum, where shortages, fear, violence, and the collapse of social rules expose how fragile institutions can be.
One woman retains her sight throughout the disaster, although she pretends to be blind so she can stay with her husband. She becomes the principal observer of the group’s suffering. Saramago uses the epidemic as an allegory for moral and social blindness rather than offering a medical explanation for the condition.