Self Reflection In Plato's The Allegory Of The Cave

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As one reads Plato’s timeless classic, “The Allegory of the Cave,” from his best known work, The Republic, one begins an experience of self reflection. As one follows the path of the freed prisoner, one begins to see their own image embodied in the prisoner, triggered by all sorts life experiences and mindsets. As I read and analyzed the philosophical message of the “Allegory of the Cave” Plato spoke to my developing teenage mind. He showed me how my current transition to adulthood is more of a “light” of passage, than a rite of passage.
From my birth until just recently, I was blanketed by the darkness of an unavoidable false reality; childhood. While it was admittingly care-free, blissful, and were the happiest moments of my life, it fed me false information about the world. The experiences and adult figures in my life were the, “puppeteers,” (para. 1), showing me mere, “shadows, [and the] shadows of one another.” (Para. 5) And I could only see these shadows of reality because I was, “prevented by the chains,” (Para. 1) of ignorance and lack of experience that comes standard with being a child. …show more content…

For both elementary and middle school, I was enrolled into a private preparatory school, primarily governed by Episcopalian traditions. Here, my young mind experienced perhaps the best, most sheltered school imaginable. I was surrounded by the upper demographic of my town, having laptops and lush school grounds surrounding me. Everything was controlled and my work was minimal. Like the prisoners of the cave, I, “have been [here] from [my] childhood,” (para. 1) only being able to experience that circumstance. For those few years, I was convinced that these images were the sole images of every

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