Allegory Of The Cave Essay

Life in a Flash In “Allegory of the Cave” by Plato, the whole story is basically compiled to its title. There are three prisoners locked up underground in a cave. They have been there since their childhood and have not met anyone else. They would see mysterious symbols of shadow from the outside formed by the lit fire behind them. All of them wants freedom but they are still frightened of what is outside, then one of them are given the opportunity with his chains opening up. He got out of the cave then met other people but they were being violent. So, he went back in the cave but he cannot see anything anymore because his eyesight is now different. Then, he explains to his other fellow prisoners what he saw but now, they think that he is crazy.

I wanted to stay in one place and never wanted to leave because the idea of leaving my comfort zone is the last thing I dreamed to do with my life. But all of us needs to grow up and learn to live without what we are used to. When it was time I had to leave my relatives behind, who I spent most of my life with, to be with my parents in California, it was a drastic change in my life. On the other hand, this became the way to reveal what it was like to grow up. Being away from your comfort zone and starting with something new. I can relate this experience with the prisoner’s experience when given freedom. Socrates explains here one moral of the story where the prisoners needed more knowledge than what they have in the cave, “So now, I replied, watch the process whereby the prisoners are set free from their chains and, along with that, cured of their lack of insight, and likewise consider what kind of lack of insight must be if the following were to happen to those who were chained” (Allegory of the Cave). We are both scared and frightened with the new experiences that we have to face since we are not in chains anymore. We needed to start somewhere new without the help of others because we are given the freedom we desired from the beginning, even if this was not what we expected it to be. It was weird living with my parents because I have never been with them for more than 10 years. I did not know how to act around them because everything was all new for me. In

The sun illustrated life and responsibilities. Socrates portrayed the sun to be very sunny to the prisoner’s eye that it began hurting when he first saw the light because he was not used to it. Furthermore, he explains the feeling of the prisoner when he is exposed to the sun, “...would not the one who had been dragged like this feel, in the process, pain and rage? And when he got into the sunlight, wouldn’t his eyes be filled with the glare, and wouldn’t he thus be unable to see any of the things that are now revealed to him as the unhidden?” (Allegory of the Cave). Likewise, the sun represented a new purpose for my life which is to take up responsibilities and be independent. Back in the Philippines, we were not given many opportunities to improve our lives. In contrast, the United States is known for the American Dream. We can do many things as long as we become dedicated and work hard for what we dreamed of, we will be able to reach it. The sun in my life is my school and job I need to pursue well to live a good life and to help my relatives out from living out of poverty. I put a positive mindset to everything I do and always take my courage from my relatives to achieve anything because everything I am doing with my life is for them. I always make sure to study hard and get excellent grades because knowledge is power and no one else can take that away from