Symbolism In Plato's Allegory Of The Cave

Plato’s ‘Allegory of the Cave’ rotates around the notion of our vision as humans being limited, and only being exposed to a certain extent of knowledge within our surroundings. The Allegory of the Cave presented a rare case where prisoners were trapped in a cave for all their lives with hands, neck and feet bound to look at a wall with shadows beings casted by a fire that lies behind them. Once a prisoner breaks free of the binds, his curiosity allows him to follow the light that then exposes him to the real world where he is blinded by the sun. Each of the elements in the allegory are symbols that can be related to modern day situations as metaphors. Though society has evolved drastically, many struggles that we face today resemble the allegory.

Women are nurtured with different ideals than men, they are taught to behave a certain way and look a certain way. Virtuous, quiet, obedient, and proper, those are some of the attributes or values that young girls are taught to be like, that they carry with them for the majority of their lives. The cave is a familiar setting, in some way a sense of security even though it may not have a good impact, we are frightened to break free of what has been taught for generations. In the Allegory of the Cave, the prisoners were kept in the dark for so long they never questioned why; similarly, as children, it’s ingrained in to their minds they behave that way subconsciously without asking why they should be any different. As a child, I was influenced by my mother’s teachings but as a curious child I also questioned why, like why men were allowed to speak their minds but women were not, or why the men got to wear whatever they wanted while women had to stay modest. I often used to question, but as I grew older I stopped and understood that was the way it was always going to be. Childhood is comparable to oblivion in many aspects, the naivety in children overlook the prejudice of the world by being entranced by the world they conjured in their mind. The prisoners were so caught up in the shadows, they

As a woman in the world, I am a prisoner, trapped in an idea of how women should be and how I should force myself to be. In the allegory one prisoner had escaped, until we can put aside the standards and expectations that were forced upon us, we cannot escape the endless cycle. The shackles bind the prisoners, to only view what the captors allow; the feeling of being held back and being weighed down by invisible forces. Women are bounded by expectations, standards and limited to their success, we are always one step behind. If we speak what we think, we are threatening others and if we act the way we want, we are condemned. Even now, as a teenager when I walk the halls of Weston; I hear derogatory words being thrown mercilessly at a woman for dressing the way she wants, what is seemingly provocative in their minds. Her clothes automatically determine what type of personality or character she is, without knowing who the person really is. One can think that a high school filled with millennials, they would be more evolved in their way of thinking but still that is not the case. Why are women degraded to some type of object? Many of us feel as though, we can’t dress the way we want or a label will be put on us, we think about how we should dress in the morning and how people