The first chapter of Blindness opens in the middle of a traffic jam in an unnamed city. When the traffic light turns green, one car seems to stall out in the intersection. As other drivers get out of their cars to push the stalled vehicle to the side of the road, they realize there is nothing wrong with the car itself: The driver—who Saramago refers to as “the first blind man” throughout the rest of the novel—has gone suddenly blind. The crowd tries to reassure the first blind man, who pleads with them to take him home. One man in the crowd volunteers to drive the blind man to his apartment, and the blind man accepts the help gratefully.

As the Good Samaritan drives the man home, it becomes clear that the first blind man’s sudden condition has made the world a foreign place. A “sense of panic welled up inside him” (4), and simple acts like getting out of his car unassisted leave him crying for help. The Good Samaritan helps the blind man to his door and offers to stay with him until the blind man’s wife gets home from work. The blind man unlocks his door by feeling the serrated edge of each key on his key ring.