Plato's Allegory Of The Cave In The Republic

Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, presented in The Republic, is one of the most famous extended metaphors in the history of philosophy. In the scenario, which Plato attributes to Socrates, a group of people are chained to a cave wall. They have been in this position all their lives and they can only see in one direction, toward the back of the cave. On the wall they see shadowy images being reflected in front of them. Since these people cannot turn their heads to see what makes the shadows, the chained people assume the shadows are all there is to reality. When one of the prisoners is released, he must be forced to turn around. The prisoner sees the shadows being projected on the wall are, in fact, created by an enormous fire at the mouth of the

cave. Another group of people walk in front of the fire, all carrying different objects. These are the people who have created the reality of the chained prisoners. After taking some time to adjust his eyes, the Prisoner is then forced to climb out of the cave and once outside is astonished by the real world. He finally sees the sun and attains a level of understanding about what constitutes the real world, an understanding that was impossible down in the cave.
Of course, the entire allegory works on a symbolic level.

Plato constructs four basic levels of human consciousness. First there are “those chained to the wall” who are “imprisoned in the shadowy world of imagination and illusion.” This might correlate to children, who know nothing of real world, or just plain ignorant people. Second, there are “those loose within the cave who occupy the “common sense” world of perception and informed opinion.” These might be parents or members of the elite who live by fooling the less educated. Third, there are “those struggling through the passageway to the surface are acquiring knowledge through reason.” They have been freed from their ignorance, but have yet to understand the true nature of the world. Finally, there are those few on “the rich surface world of warmth and sunlight. These people represent “the highest reality directly grasped by pure intelligence.” In this way, “Plato compares the level of becoming to living in a cave and describes the ordeal necessary for the soul’s ascent from the shadowy illusion to enlightenment--from mere option to informed opinion to rationally based knowledge to wisdom.” At the same time, the “allegory also alludes to the obligation of the enlightened wise person… to return to the world of becoming in order to help others discern the Forms" (Soccio,

141).
If I had to place myself in this scenario, I would say I am in the third group that struggling to the surface. That roughly correlates to the experience of struggling through a college-level education. That is not to say that on graduation I will join the group on the surface in complete wisdom. That may take many more years of intellectual struggle. But I certainly think I have departed from the ranks of those watching shadows on the wall or the shadow puppeteers who traffic in false images of reality.