Plato’s Allegory of the Cave

We were asked to bring in a sketch of what we envisioned Plato’s cave to be. Just based on the text, I was forced to create an image and atmosphere of the cave with all its elements placed in specific spots. When I got to class, I was surprised at how different everyone’s interpretations were. But we also had much of the same concept of authorization, shadows, limitations of prisoners and such.

During our group discussion, we were pushed to think from the perspectives of the prisoners. They were locked with chains so that they could only face their own shadows, therefore could not see the true reality in the causes of the shadows. Shadows were all they saw, and shadows were their reality. This reminded me of how we are all ‘prisoners’ most comfortable in our own “cave”. Everything is so familiar and comfortable, that we don’t bother to question the life outside of our norm, or in this case, the causes of the shadows. We are often afraid to go beyond our familiar zone and to experience challenges that will open our eyes to new factors of the truth.

I also think that this could be interpreted in a political sense. The puppeteers would resemble politicians who try to control the information and new that we are exposed to. What they don’t wish for the civilians to see, they will not show. And therefore we will never know that side of the truth. They have the power to manipulate us to understand the “shadows” to be something completely different from reality. An example would be of North Korea. The rest of the world knows the poor state in which North Korean civilians are. We are certain that they are in fact at the bottom of the list when it comes to economy, technology, and distribution of the money. However, the North Koreans only know about themselves. Without knowledge and perspective from the outside world, they are permanently stuck in their belief that they are the best, that they are no different from any other country. The lack of expose gives them only one choice. To think that they have it all… when in reality, they have nothing.