John Steinbeck's The Allegory Of The Cave

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Recommended: Themes expressed in the allegory of the cave story

Imagine you’d been kept within a cave your entire life; things would be much different than they currently are of course. The passage “The Allegory of the Cave” begins by explaining a scenario in which there are three prisoners who have been kept within a cave all their life. Later, one of the prisoners is released and is able to experience the outside world. At the end of the passage the prisoner returns and attempts to explain his experience to the others; they do not believe what they’re being told and the end result is mind boggling. Through the exceptional use of symbolism, tone, as well as event significance the writer was able to convey the theme that people should be open minded. To begin with, the author uses symbolism to convey the intended theme. The author uses words such as cave, fire, shadows, shackles, and the sun/outside environment to represent several key points …show more content…

The beginning of the passage has a dark tone. “Imagine this: People live under the earth in a cavelike dwelling’ ... ‘The people have been in this dwelling since childhood, shackled by the legs and neck.’” (Socrates 2). The tone later shifts and becomes happy/free. “If he again recalled his first dwelling, and the "knowing" that passes as the norm there, and the people with whom he once was chained, don't you think he would consider himself lucky because of the transformation that had happened and, by contrast, feel sorry for them?” (Socrates 5). Towards the end of the passage the tone shifts once more and becomes filled with tension. “ And if they can get hold of this person who takes it in hand to free them from their chains and to lead them up, and if they could kill him, will they not actually kill him?” (Socrates 6). “They certainly will.” (Glaucon 6). The changes in the tone strengthen the overall message as they show the different stages of a person becoming

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