Myth Of The Cave Allegory

The literary phenomenon of an allegory is an underlying message, or hidden meaning, within a work. It is not directly stated, but revealed in symbolic representation throughout the work. Two examples of allegories are Plato's "The Myth of the Cave" and Richard Bach's Jonathan Livingston Seagull. These two allegories have different meanings, but they have similarities within their storylines. In "The Myth of the Cave," a group of people are "living in an underground cave" and "have their legs and necks chained so that they cannot move, and can only see before them." Their reality is defined by this and only this, because they have spent their entire lives this way and have experienced nothing but this captivity. Similarly, in Jonathan Livingston Seagull, a flock of gulls held captive by their lifestyle where "most gulls don't bother to learn more than the simplest facts of flight-- how to get from shore to food and back again". Both societies are held back by a limited world view and an inability or unwillingness to experience anything more. Both stories evolve when some member of the miserable society escapes his captivity and achieves enlightenment. In "The Myth of the Cave," a man is dragged …show more content…
In addition to having several identical plot points, these stories are both allegories with a simple moral message: "that the hardest thing in the world is to convince a bird that he is free, and that he can prove it for himself if he'd just spend a little time practicing," (Bach) and "that there will be no injustice in compelling our philosophers to have a care and providence for others" (Plato). Simply put, any man can achieve enlightenment or greater knowledge, if he will only try, and it is the responsibility of those who have found enlightenment to return and lead others to