the cave. Behind the prisoners a fire burns, and between the fire and prisoners there is a raised way on which a low wall lıas been built, such as is used in puppet shows as a screen to conceal the people working the puppets. Along the raised way people walk carrying all sorts of things which they hold so that they project above the wall-statues of men, animals, trees. The prisoners, facing the inside wall, cannot see one another, or the wall behind them on which the objects are being carried - all they can see are the shadows these objects cast on the wall of the cave. The prisoners live all their lives seeing only shadows of reality, and the voices they hear are only echos from the wall. But the prisoners cling to the familiar shadows and their passions and prejudices, and if they were freed and able to turn arouııd and see the realities which produce the shadows, they would be blinded by the light of the fire. And they would become angry and would prefer to regain tlıeir shadow world. But if one of the prisoners were freed and turned around to see, in the light of the fire, the cave and his feIlow prisenors and the roadway, and if he were then dragged up and out of the cave into the ligbt of the sun, he would see the the things of the world as they truly are and finally he would see the sun itself. Wlıat woııld this person think now of tlıe life in tlıe cave and what people there know of reality aııd of morality? And if he were to descend back into the cave, would he not have great difficulty in accustoming himself to the darkness, so that he could not compete with those who had never left the cave? Would he not be subject to their ridicule, scorn, even their physical attack? Of the many allegories in the history of Western thought, the Allegory of the Cave is the one most often cited. But what is an allegory? An allegory is a kind of story in which what is talked about is being ...
