Seeing is a novel

Novel

A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....

 by Nobel Prize

Nobel Prize in Literature

Since 1901, the Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded annually to an author from any country who has, in the words from the will of Alfred Nobel, produced "in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction"...

-winning Portuguese

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

 author José Saramago

José Saramago

José de Sousa Saramago, GColSE was a Nobel-laureate Portuguese novelist, poet, playwright and journalist. His works, some of which can be seen as allegories, commonly present subversive perspectives on historic events, emphasizing the human factor. Harold Bloom has described Saramago as "a...

. It was published in Portuguese

Portuguese language

Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...

 in 2004 and in English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 in 2006. It is a sequel to one of his most famous works, Blindness

Blindness (novel)

Blindness is a novel by Portuguese author José Saramago. It was originally published in Portuguese and then translated into English. It is one of his most famous novels, along with The Gospel According to Jesus Christ and Baltasar and Blimunda....

.

Plot summary

Seeing is a story set in the same country featured in Blindness and begins with a parliamentary election in which the majority of the populace casts blank ballots. The story revolves around the struggles of the government and its various members as they try to simultaneously understand and destroy the amorphous non-movement of blank-voters. Characters from Blindness appear in the second half of the novel, including 'the doctor' and 'the doctor's wife'.

Oppression by the Government

The populace feels bitter towards the detached government, communicating their feelings by casting blank ballots. Throughout Seeing, the government is defensive and vengeful towards the rebellious citizens characterizing its oppressive nature. The characters of the Prime Minister and the Superintendent orchestrate ways of dejecting the people through propaganda and exclusion. The government is always at odds with the people creating an environment of tension and “bad guy vs. good guy” mentality in society.

Inhumanity of Human Nature

This theme is best represented by the superintendent’s ironic, planned death. Humans are inherently destructive and malevolent towards each other, and ultimately themselves. Additionally, people are persistently trying to spy on each other and figure out ways to extract the truth via methods that are cruel. The government taking a sample of 500 people in the beginning of the novel demonstrates just how merciless some people can be.

The Restructure of Society

Society constantly wants to reorganize itself and usually this reorganization results in a governmental shift and heightened tensions between the people and authority. In Seeing, a call for restructure is illustrated in the casting of blank ballots, rejecting government. Society periodically and internally alters itself. At the beginning of the book it can be inferred that no one is happy with the status quo and ultimately at the end of the book, the government has changed in such a way that the people are only temporarily satisfied and content with the government. The inhuman nature of humans results in the constant shuffling and changing of government officials and governmental structure.

Prime Minister

As the highest-ranking government official in the region, the Prime Minister is the most prominent character in the novel. The Prime Minister, PM, makes all government decisions regarding the revolution. The PM represents the active government officials in society who are too involved in society through government action. He displays government hypocrisy, exhibits no feelings of trust in the people, and overlooks corruption and misuse of power in government.

President

As the leader of the nation, the President is the PM’s only superior. Throughout the novel, the President remains out of picture. He leaves the regions government activity to the PM. This represents how the nation’s leaders are ill-informed on specific events and can only be concerned with the nation as a whole. Although the President has the most power in the nation, the PM is able to handle the situations before him in any way he chooses because the President does not have the time, or the means, to closely watch him.

Superintendent

The Superintendent is the head of the police. He is responsible for the investigation to find who is responsible for the revolution. He represents a particular conflict between the police and the government as he is responsible for the investigation, but the government is prohibiting the police from being active in the city. The Superintendent attempts to complete the investigation even though he is not really in control of the police anymore and through his disagreements with the Interior Minister.

Seeing Woman

This character was the most important in Saramago’s previous book, Blindness. In Blindness, everyone in the city goes blind, except for her. The woman also kills one person. In this novel, she is accused of planning the revolution and is one of 7 suspects. She is targeted mainly because she did not go blind, but also because of the crimes she previously committed. She represents the fears of government. She is a physical symbol of unknown because no one knows why she did not go blind, which is threatening to government. Mainly, government fears change, which the woman could easily prompt. However, as well as fearing change, government does not believe in it all together. The second reason she is accused is because of the murders in the past. Past criminals are often the first suspects for new crimes, which is exemplified in her situation.