Reading Response Danielle Kuhn

Plato creates a visual representation of our lives. We are prisoners to a predetermined extent of knowledge. Who it is controlling the amount of truth available to us is questionable. We certainly shackle ourselves to face the wall and view only shadows, there are others who want us to be there and persuade us to stay, but we have the ability to get up and walk away. When a freed prisoner makes that climb and sees the truth, it isn’t easy. It is laborious to get there and hard to take it all in at once. Once they do though, it is triumphant. To finally know the truth, it is hard to think that their reality once was merely shadows of truth. The freed prisoners will pity those who still are in the cave because their reality is false. If the freed prisoners go back to the cave, they will have to readjust to the false reality. To those still in the cave, this will make knowing the truth seem like a bad thing, and they will want to stay.

It can be said that the prisoners in the cave are common people, those content with day to day dealings. The freed prisoners then would be intellectuals, those who seek knowledge and understanding. The shadows can be thought of as the extent of knowledge that higher authorities feel people need or as what the tangible world makes readily visible. The cave represents the state of being blissfully ignorant. It isn’t to be said that this state of ignorance is a bad thing, simply what is accepted and known. The sun represents enlightenment; it shines the light onto truth. When a freed prisoner returns to the cave, this can be thought of as him trying to help free the other prisoners. His eyes need to readjust to the darkness so that he can relate to the prisoners to try to convince them to summit or at least understand their viewpoint. It is up to the prisoners if they want to know the truth or not.