eliefs and views.While in this cave, there is a fire above and behind them, and between them and the fire is a wall. This wall is acting like a screen in a puppet show. There are other men walking along the wall carrying statues and carvings of animals which appear over the wall. This symbolizes Montag’s job of burning books and his helping to keep others in the dark; only showing them what the government wants them to see and know. The prisoners, like Montag and others in his society, can only see the shadows of the statues along the cave wall, and this is what they believe to be the truth. Somehow one of the prisoners is able to escape, and at first he is in pain. Just as Montag escaped the beliefs and views of his society, with the help from Clarisse and Faber. At first, Montag could not and would not accept books, but he began to see the power they had, he began to see the truth. This pain comes from the light (truth), and the prisoner is compelled to look away from the light, and to take refuge in the objects which he could see. Once again, the prisoner carries himself towards the cave entrance, and this time he sees the sun. At first, the sun hurts him also, but the prisoner grows accustomed to the light. The same way Montag felt when he first learned the truth; it hurt to know that all he knew was false, but he began to accept it and he liked it and wanted to share this knowledge with others. After learning the truth of the cave, the prisoner also tries to return to the others that are held captive and free them to show them the truth. However, they only believe what their illusions, and the prisoner is ridiculed, called crazy, and exiled from the cave. This also happened to Montag when he tried to share his knowledge with others; such as his wife, her friends, and Captain Beatty. ...
