Kiera Sanders
Mod 3
Words: 690
Plato’s allegory of the cave starts with prisoners who are chained
up by the legs and neck. The prisoners are not able to move to look at
anything other than what is directly in front of them. There is a %re far
behind them and a platform type wall between the %re and
themselves. Behind this wall are other people walking by holding
%gures, so that shadows are cast on the wall in front of the prisoners.
The prisoners only know what they see, and all they see are shadows.
They start to name and distinguish what they believe the shadows are.
The shadows are the reality to the prisoners, because they know
nothing else. One prisoner is forcefully released and pushed into the
real world outside of the cave. The sun hurts his eyes and he has
trouble adjusting. Once adjusted, he starts to see things for as they
really are. His world is no longer just shadows. He feel bad for his
fellow prisoners and wants to help them “see the light” of reality. He
wants to share his knowledge, and returns to the cave. His vision is
distorted from going from light to dark. The other prisoners think of
him as crazy, in a way and do not want any help from him. They think
