Comparing Plato's Allegory In Learning To Read And Write

Plato’s Allegory of the Cave offered meaningful insight into the education process. To begin the allegory, Plato proposed that a group of prisoners were chained and unable to move because of these chains. They could only gaze upon one thing, the shadows which were projected onto the wall by a fire set above and behind them. These shadows were of various different items that were being carried by people behind a wall that enabled only the shadows of the items to be projected. Since the prisoner cannot turn his head due to the chains, he was forced to watch these shadows pass, and to make meaning from just the shadows. The shadows were all the prisoners knew. After this was established, Plato hypothesized what might happen if a prisoner were …show more content…
Plato suggests that one who is chained and unable to turn is forced to draw meaning from only what he sees. He is unable to seek out more information, and also unwilling to. In Frederick Douglass’s Learning to Read and Write he is chained by his futile situation. Douglass is kept in chains by his position in society. He learned early on in his life in Master Hugh’s family that “education and slavery were incompatible” (Douglass 164). Slavery was what kept Douglass chained and immobile. He was forced to learn in the environment of slavery, just as Plato said the prisoner would learn about the shadows he is presented with. Like all of the prisoners at the start of the allegory, in his very young life, Douglass did not have any motivation to learn about the plight of his situation. He did not know any differently. Plato’s prisoners were the same way, having no desire to explore and no ability to do so. Douglass was left in chains for the majority of his slave life. While there are similarities in the way Douglass is chained and the way the prisoners in the early part of the allegory are chained, Douglass experiences something slightly different. related to the release from chains. In the allegory , one prisoner is released and led out on a fairly continuous path. Douglass's experience was much different. His mistress freed him …show more content…
Plato proposes that the sunlight, while it is the ultimate truth, hurts the prisoner at first. It burns the eyes that gaze directly upon it. This experience mirrors what happened in the life of Douglass. When he first is educated, he realizes the plight of slavery which “brought on another even more painful than the one of which I [Douglass] was relieved” (Douglass 165). The prisoner in the allegory was brought into the light. He was able to finally see the truth. Douglass was, in this way, also liberated. However, in his liberation he was thrust forward into knowledge and from this knowledge came the pain of understanding. He learned the true plight of slavery and was questioning why he ever wanted to learn to begin with. His pain was immeasurable. The prisoner in the allegory was blinded by the light. He felt an unbearable pain, just as Douglass’s experience with the plight of slavery. This pain is further highlighted when Douglass states he found he was “wishing myself [himself] dead” (Douglass 166). Douglass’s realization is exceptionally painful, and although he now had the power of understanding, it could not help him deconfigure his plight. He would have preferred that he was dead rather than having to bear the knowledge of the suffering of his people. The thought of “being a slave for life began to bear heavily upon my [Douglass’s] heart” (Douglass