Reflection About Innocence

1259 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Imagination and knowledge relationship

From the day a person is born, everyday is a stepping stone towards their place in the world. Every person met and every book read is a new opportunity for a person to learn more about the world as well as themselves. With this new information, however, there is a serious price. The sweet innocence of a child is one the rarest and most treasured things in all of the world because the journey that every child takes. Even now as I write this on the fifteen year anniversary, I can say that I lost a significant part of my innocence on September 11th, 2001. I silently reflect on this and hope that I am the only generation that not only has to experience a tragedy like this at such a young age. But alas, The generation of my father and his father and on and on after that have always been a part of a war. Whether it is fighting on the battlefield or watching the horrors afar everyone …show more content…

Even years later I continue on these horrors by reading the books about the countless wars, tragedies, assassinations, and corruptions hoping that one day the world will learn. Through my entire life onward there has been one continuous ideal that I have held true to this day. Knowledge is cruel, but not as cruel as man. This idea of worldwide cruelty has been built up since I was a young child due to my exposure to my surroundings. The books I read, the television I watched, and the talks I overheard from my parents all had a significant impact on my view of the world. But what if it isn 't the world at all and instead is my own and other 's interpretation of the world instead? In Plato 's work The Allegory of the Cave, the characters Socrates and Glaucon discuss the idea of a metaphorical cave where people are only ever able to see shadows of objects on a the

Show More
Related

  • Parallels between The Movie, The Matrix and Plato's Allegory Of The Cave

    2216 Words  | 5 Pages

    In Book VII of The Republic, Plato tells a story entitled "The Allegory Of The Cave." He begins the story by describing a dark underground cave where a group of people are sitting in one long row with their backs to the cave's entrance. Chained to their chairs from an early age, all the humans can see is the distant cave wall in from of them. Their view of reality is soley based upon this limited view of the cave which but is a poor copy of the real world.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of A Lucky Child By Thomas Buergenthal

    1157 Words  | 3 Pages

    A Lucky Child by Thomas Buergenthal is a memoir about his time as a Jewish child in multiple ghettos and death camps in and around Germany during World War II. The author shares about his reunions with family and acquaintances from the war in the years between then and now. Buergenthal wished to share his Holocaust story for a number of reasons: to prevent himself from just being another number, to contribute to history, to show the power and necessity of forgiveness, the will to not give up, and to question how people change in war allowing them to do unspeakable things. The memoir is not a cry for private attention, but a call to break the cycle of hatred and violence to end mass crimes.

    Read More

  • Lessons Learned from the Story of Mary Ellen Wilson

    774 Words  | 2 Pages

    ... lot of actions that show, as a society we have come along way, but we are still learning. There are still many cases of child abuse, but we now have knowledge and resources in place to intervene, and stop this abuse and neglect. Today, we have choices. Today, we can help, and protect. Today, we have child protection services. Because of all of this, today, we have the ability to, and the responsibility to keep our children safe.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Tlato's Allegory Of The Cave And The Truman Show

    1280 Words  | 3 Pages

    As people, we tend to believe everything we see. Do we ever take the time to stop and think about what is around us? Is it reality, or are we being deceived? Reality is not necessarily what is in front of us, or what is presented to us. The environment that we are placed or brought up has a great impact on what we perceive to be the truth or perceive to be reality. Plato’s Allegory of the Cave is one of the most significant attempts to explain the nature of reality. The cave represents the prisoners, also known as the people. They are trapped inside of a cave. They are presented with shadows of figures, and they perceive that to be reality. The cave can be used as a

    Read More

  • Impact of War and Violence on Children in A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah

    1473 Words  | 3 Pages

    More and more children in the United States are experiencing a growing sense of insecurity about the world inside and outside the boundaries of their families. It does not take much violence and terror to set a tone of threat. Even in the worst war zones—places like Sarajevo—shooting and killing is intermittent. Memory of the emotions of trauma does not decay; it remains fresh (Garbarino 64-65).

    Read More

  • Innocence In Catcher In The Rye

    1244 Words  | 3 Pages

    If there were one word to tell what the theme of the book was it would be innocence. How we are all innocent at some point, how to try to keep our innocence, and how no one can keep their innocence forever. We all fall from our innocence. Adam and Eve fell from grace and innocence and set the tone for all of our lives. Throughout the whole book Holden is trying to make people keep their innocence and he wants to hold onto it himself. What he needs to learn and does learn through the course of the book is that no one can keep his or her innocence. We all fall at some point, but what we have control over is how hard we fall.

    Read More

  • The Path to War in This Boy’s Life by Tobias Wolff

    990 Words  | 2 Pages

    It is hardly surprising that boys like Toby who dreamed of battle were unprepared for the reality of war, since the real problems of their parents’ generation were eclipsed by “nostalgic adulation” of myth-like heroes. In the words of Tobias Wolff, “I went into the army…. It seemed to me when I got there that this was where I had been going all along, and where I might still redeem myself. All I needed was a war. Careful what you pray for.” There may be times when war is necessary, but if we send soldiers into harm’s way, then ideally our youth should be under no illusions about what that means and that the repercussions are felt long after the fighting stops.

    Read More

  • Plato and Bacon

    921 Words  | 2 Pages

    Both authors make a point of showing the narrow-mindedness of humans by nature. In “Allegory of the Cave”, the prisoners believed that the shadows they were seeing were reality, with nothing more to it. The comfort of the said perceived, and therefore the fear of the unrecognized outside world would end in the prisoner being forced to climb the steep ascent of the cave and step outside int...

    Read More

  • Socrates The Allegory Of The Cave

    1541 Words  | 4 Pages

    The earlier passage refers to the rigid society we are born into that has us all fixed into a common point of view that doesn’t give us much room to look at the same thing at different perspectives. The cave allegory can also apply to societies created by totalitarian systems in which only distorted information flows through with no other conflicting perspectives that may cause the people in the cave to question what they’ve seen before being able to flow through. Since we grow up being prisoners to the society we grow up in, we’re actually comfortable living in bondage in the cave and the only way to leave is voluntary. If someone gives you information that completely contradicts your perspective, or leave for college with a closed mind, just like in the allegory, the light outside the cave will compel you to flee back to ignorance because it offends your perspective, “And if someone compelled him to look at the light itself, wouldn’t his eyes hurt, and wouldn’t he turn around and flee towards the things he’s able to see” (Republic VII 515e 1-3). From what's described, someone else can’t force you out of your own ignorance and that only you can do

    Read More

  • Plato And Francis Bacon And Plato's Allegory Of The Cave

    648 Words  | 2 Pages

    To begin, Plato’s Allegory of the cave is a dialogue between Socrates and Glaucon and its main purpose, as Plato states is to, “show in a figure how far our nature is enlightened or unenlightened.”(Plato) The dialogue includes a group of prisoners who are captive in a cave and chained down, only with the ability to stare straight at a wall. This wall, with the help of a fire, walkway, and people carrying different artifacts and making sounds, create a shadow and false perception of what is real. This concept here is one of the fundamental issues that Plato brings up in the reading. “To them, I said, the truth would be literally nothing but the shadows of the images.” (Plato). These prisoners, being stuck in this cave their entire life have no other option but to believe what they see on the wall to be true. If they were to experience a real representation of the outside world they would find it implausible and hard to understand. “When any of them is liberated and compelled suddenly to stand up a...

    Read More

  • Loss of Innocence

    1482 Words  | 3 Pages

    Innocence is usually associated with youth and ignorance. The loss of one’s innocence is associated with the evils of the world. However, the term “innocence” can be interpreted in a variety of ways. Similarly, the loss of one’s innocence can be interpreted in more than one way, and, depending on the interpretation, it may happen numerous times. The loss of innocence is culture specific and involves something that society holds sacrosanct.

    Read More

  • Shirley Temple Thesis

    695 Words  | 2 Pages

    The loss of innocence of our children is a national disgrace; the yielding of values that protected

    Read More

  • Allegory Of The Cave Essay

    775 Words  | 2 Pages

    Plato's Allegory of the Cave is a representation of the normal human behavior as well as the circumstances we presently encounter on a day-to-day basis. The Allegory of the Cave symbolically describes our circumstances as human beings in today’s world. Plato uses a number of key elements to depict the image of the human condition. Plato's images contain relatable ideas in regards to society that are related to my everyday life. By reading Plato I have personally begun to expand my though process and have learned not to rely solely on my senses. Plato’s Allegory of the Cave brings philosophy’s teachings to the forefront and makes it easy for us readers to understand what philosophy is trying to teach us.

    Read More

  • Michelle Bernal Plato's The Allegory Of The Cave

    735 Words  | 2 Pages

    Plato's allegory of the cave is a metaphysical illustration of the philosopher’s view of the humanity. We are represented by the prisoners, who are mired and held captive by an extremely limited view of the world, and prevented by their chains from viewing the actual Truth of existence. We are each locked up in our own worldview, living our lives unknowingly in the shadow of actual truth. Having nothing else to rely upon but our meager eyesight and hearing, capable of only believing in shadows and whispering disembodied voices, once exposed to truth, it is blinding to us. We are dazzled and disoriented, afraid of the glaring sight that has been so rudely forced upon us.

    Read More

  • Reflection About Adolescence

    824 Words  | 2 Pages

    1. What was your adolescence like? How would you describe it? Summarize your experiences as you made this passage through life.

    Read More

More about Reflection About Innocence

Open Document