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Steven Needham
Eng.220.021
Maya Alapin
3/1/15
Plato
The Cave
Platos Message in the cave is exceptional analogy that can be linked to how
many students enter the world of education and how many people enter the world
in general. The Prisoners represent students who are stuck in their own shortsighted beliefs and opinions, only believing what they see and not able to perceive
ideas that are not supported by previous experience. When a prisoner is removed
from the cave to see the real world this represents Platos idea of a student opening
their mind to education. In other words cave represents the mind, the chains
represent restrictions put on our thoughts, the shadows represent what a restricted
mind sees and last but not least outside world representing reality or truth. From
the beginning people are molded by their families, friends, teachers, and many
other factors to see the world a certain way often times this puts us in a cave of

thought closed off to outside opinions, beliefs, or even facts because we seek
comfort over knowledge instead of seeking comfort in knowledge. (Larson 175)
Platos concept is fascinating and in many aspects spot on with how people,
society, and education function a lot of the time. Breaking down this story I think
we must first look at the cave. The chained prisoners Plato asks us to imagine
being chained foot and neck since childhood he also states they can only see
forward and have no knowledge of what is actually around them. Linking this
closely to education we are chained to the classes we must take in our current
system, with society money or wealth is a separation of class society puts on us.
Just like prisoners chained to a wall make it hard to see the outside, maybe
pressures from society, educational standards, and economical constraints chain
people down to not obtain a higher level of intelligence and awareness to be
successful. This is an important topic for education Plato is attempting to create an
image for his audience. Plato is letting us know the issues with closing ourselves
off too education and only accepting habitual knowledge of things we have done
our whole lives not changing anything or allowing new information to be
processed is like chaining yourself up in a cave. (Larson 175)
Another important element of the cave itself is the shadows cast of things
crossing the pathway behind them. These shadows depending on the individual can

represent many things but regardless of interpretation they represent individuals

who are above the prisoners in some way. In the case of education these figures can
be viewed as people who have had opportunity to a good education to become
well-rounded, open minded people who have already been released into the world.
In society maybe they represent a higher social standard of people, such as nobility
or wealthy individuals. It says in the text that the prisoners would never see much
of themselves and they would see shadows that are much larger than them thus
created a psychological problem that they are less and perhaps this is the first
concrete detail showing what Platos true issue with education in society is. This
also ties sociological issues together with educational issue which is a problem in
every culture.
The next point brought up in the text that I really want to address is
the point where one prisoner is drug from the cave into the real world. This part is
really interesting imagining someone exposed to something they have never seen
before. The man would assume that everyone was much different than him, only to
see that they are the same. All the freedoms outside may come as a shock to him. I
can relate this to a student being immersed in a new school that is privileged with
tons of resources, coming from an underfunded school in the old part of town. This
would probably be amazing at first, possibly overwhelming. One can argue that
some students may strive with better situations and have a chance to become part

what he didnt know. However this is assuming he is up for the challenge due to
the fact that he was never exposed to a world like the one outside the cave.
Coming back to the cave the man was from would also be a new interesting
struggle. Trying to explain the outside world to your friends that have never been
exposed could create a feeling of disbelief because they still know nothing other
than the cave. Everyone who leaves the comfort of their own town, possibly
returns to visit will experience this, imagine a small town kid from New Mexico
moving to New York City for a few years becoming successful. He returns to his
small town to visit and his friends are in disbelief of his adventure or just simply
have no understanding, it is very similar. I find that in my personal life I have
encountered a similar event traveling back home it is impossible to have the same
relationship with many old friends because the experiences I have had are very
different and I now feel like an outsider sometimes. (Larson 179)
Platos text is a very excellent descriptive story that explains the importance
of education and the importance for us as people to become educated. He also
discusses the ideals of true education and true philosophy, which I feel he brings
across in this story. Imprisoning ourselves in the cave of our own minds and past
experiences and knowledge will lead us to being chained down to a dull wall with
no escape. Plato says that the learning power is the world of becoming and

education is the process of learning called world of being. In this it is described

that we all have the power to learn but everyones process is very different. As
Plato put is true philosophy is able to make the difference between truth and
falsehood, right and wrong as well as justice and injustice. This philosophy comes
very much across in the text and it is one of the prominent messages.
In conclusion I believe this text is very relevant to the past and current issues
of education and addresses the issues in various ways that instigate thought forcing
the reader to truly gain his or her own opinions and outlooks of the reading. The
brilliance of this is that it addresses issues including problems in education,
psychological issues associated with those same the socialistic issues. Plato also
constructed the difference between someone who can be educational enlightened
and not. He really shows the values of being educated showing with the abstract
image of a released prisoner and those that were not released, in that they truly
believe there is no other way. Thus from this we as people should all gain the drive
to become educated open minded people and not imprison ourselves in a cave.

Works Cited
Plato. The Republic. Trans. Raymond Larson. Hoboken: Wiley-Blackwell, 1979.
Print.
"Plato's The Allegory of the Cave: Meaning and Interpretation." Plato's The
Allegory of the Cave: Meaning and Interpretation. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Feb. 2015.
"Allegory of the Cave." Princeton University. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Feb. 2015.