Symbolism In Allegory Of The Cave

In Plato’s “ Allegory of the Cave,” Plato describes the cave as very dark with chained prisoners in front of a fire observing shadow of things. The shadows are the only “reality” they know. Outside the cave, there is “light” and the “truth”. A prisoner in the cave wanted freedom. But the prisoners could not get out. They were trap in the cave and all they could see were shadow illusions of people, animals and trees. So one day, one of the prisoners was granted freedom. He went out to the real world and saw the truth. He saw the light of the sun, the green trees, and his reflection on the water. The prisoner then went back to the cave and told the other prisoners what he saw outside the cave in the real world. However, they taught he was crazy …show more content…
The first reason, is the symbol of the cave. The cave represents a hidden world underground, that is preventing its prisoners to come out to the real world. The sun in this allegory means freedom because the sun helps the prisoner see how everything from the outside world really looks like. Another allegory are the shadows and darkness. The prisoners were accustomed to the shadows and dark which lead them to believe that was the reality to everything they saw. They believed everything was black and white. Furthermore, the prisoner is another allegory. The prisoner who was set free and open his eyes to the truth and saw reality, represents change. He represents change because he saw everything from a different perception. The prisoner shared his experience and what he saw with the other prisoners. However, the other prisoners did not believe him because they were afraid of change. Finally, the moral is that the prisoners that relied on their perceptions to know the truth about what existed in the outside world do not know anything about it. Perceptions are only how we as individuals view things and not how they truly are. People are like the prisoners in the cave because they believe the things they see are how they truly are, rather than thinking beyond what they …show more content…
First, it relates to me because I believed working at T-Mobile was the best job ever and I was stuck there like the prisoners in the cave. I felt smart and believe I was at my maximum potential, because I was repairing phones and I was earning three dollars more than the minimum wage. I dropped out of college my first year, to focus on my job. I used to believe I knew everything, like the prisoners in the “allegory of the cave”. The prisoners thought they knew everything because their own “reality” was the cave. I felt like I had everything under control. My life took a major turn when I became in depth with a credit card for ten thousand dollars. All I did was work and work to pay it off. My mother being my motivation talked me into going back to school and get a career for a better future. I listened to my mother's words and decided to apply for college. When I started college everything changed. College open my eyes to the real world and to the different opportunities I can get with a college degree. Also most of my co-workers did not believe in me. They would bring my hopes down about school because they did not believe in the better opportunities there is out there. My experience also relates to the prisoners because one of them was liberated and discovered how the real world really was. When he came back to tell the other prisoners about the outside world, they taught he was crazy and ignored him. The