platos revenge Essay -- essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  One’s opinion, philosophy, or ideology, apparent or hidden can help, or hinder individual or collective development. This hindering action is apparent in Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, and the action of helping is apparent in Free at Last by Harriet Jacobs. Each of these authors has their own ideology, which they would like to share.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In Plato’s Allegory of the Cave we look into the lives of people whose ideology is chosen for them. These people are forced to sit and stare in one direction their whole life. One would wonder if it ever occurred to them to look to their left of their right. This has been their way of life since childbirth, they know nothing else. How, if you know of nothing else can you come up with your own ideology and make it work? How can you even think without consulting your way first? Maybe thinking is beyond what you are allowed to do.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Within the society in which they are living these people believe that what is right is right because they were never enlightened to anything else. The people never had the chance to look beyond, or to go away and then come back. Plato implies that if one does escape this so-called cave, the others who remain want to kill the escapee.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Once a person has escaped, they see light for the first time. They feel tremendous pain. The reason that they are feeling this is because they have been sheltered for so long. They have not had the opportunity to think for themselves or to realize that there are other ways of life. All of the ideas, all of the new ideologies flow into that persons head. Their mind begins to turn a mile a minute and all of the change is too much to process.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  After this escapee had time to sort out these new ideas and form his or her own take on what the world has to offer they want to return to their home and share their takes on life and how things should be. The people of the ‘cave’ have only known one thing. They are never allowed to look to another place for inspiration or for information. They have to go with the flow and accept everything just as it is handed to them. They are forbidden to look elsewhere for answers.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  My ideology is that if you don’t like something, change it. The people in the cave are never ... ...on’t want to believe that the world is so unfair, I don’t want to believe that he wasn’t there to see me walk across the stage at graduation, that he couldn’t make faces at me while I smiled for my prom pictures. I really want to believe that it is all a huge nightmare.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Jacobs lets us all know that we have to get through this ‘dog eat dog world’ with our heads held high, and also by listening to the wisdom of our parents, grandparents, the wisdom of our families.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In each essay we learn of ways that could hinder or help their individual or collective development. In Allegory of the Cave we learn that the society that the ‘cavemen’ live in is hindering their development. They don’t allow their counterparts the chance to develop into anything other than what the society wants. However in Free at Last Jacobs lets us know her feelings she lets her children know her feelings and guides them in the right direction, but she also lets them figure out on their own. She lets them learn for themselves and collectively make their own ideology. She allows for them to think for themselves, therefore she helps them in their development.