Humans and animals have been companions for thousands of years. At the surface, it may seem like a purely biologically symbiotic relationship, but while the symbiosis is true, the relationship is deeper than that. Whether either participant is concious of it or not, animals provide a number of emotional and psychological benefits for the human, and vice versa. In the works of fiction we are studying, this relationship is no clearer than in Jose Saramago's …showed first 75 words of 1955 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1955 total…of extreme isolation is often insanity, as we no doubt learned from the character Arthur Vickers from "One's a Heifer". By joining with the human characters in their times of lowest morale, the animals of Blindness and The Lamp at Noon and Other Storiesprovide a means of continuum for the story from a certain crisis. This mirrors reality: by use of animal companionship, we can see how our predecessors survived the isolated situations of pioneering.