Doctor's Wife

I find it interesting how Jose Saramago decided to have the doctors wife vision remain while everyone else has fallen ill to the white sickness. I think that Jose has made this decision fro two reasons. The first one is that he wanted to add a sense of mystery to his novel and have his readers wonder as to why the wife is immune this this plague. It also adds a sense of drama in certain scenes. One of them being the doctor and the wife trying to determine if she should tell everybody her secret. The second reason is for a sense of narrative. The book tells the story from the perspectives of its characters. Any events that take place are all directly experienced by them, and there is no dramatic irony taking place. Since this is the case, the reader would not be able to have a sense of setting or even interest in the book if all the characters were blind. The doctors wife serves as a tool to better tell the reader what is happening in the book.