Platos Revenge

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

My ideology is that if you don’t like something, change it. The people in the cave are never given the opportunity to try, or they are too afraid to. They are afraid to change. Change is definitely inevitable. No matter what things beyond ones control will always be cause for change. From the smallest change, the style of clothes that you are wearing, to one that is more major, changing your way of life.

From time to time people have got to understand what the escapees are feeling when all the ideas are rushing into their heads. Most often I feel this when I am in a fabric store, surrounded be bolt after bolt of every kind of fabric imaginable. The possibilities are endless. From lace to taffeta to cotton to velvet. I need to take a moment to realize where I am and to refocus on whatever project that I am currently working on. Even after you decide on a certain fabric you still have so many choices to make. There are different trims, both colors and styles, and then, even though you have decided on a certain fabric you can always make alterations. You start with a simple idea and it can branch off in so many different ways. It is extremely interesting. But the idea is that once I walk in my mind starts turning and it doesn’t stop. There are so many possibilities and it is impossible to only choose one route.

The idea of the escapee returning to the cave can be compared to a country girl moving to the city and leaving almost every aspect of their hometown behind them. They arrive in a new place, and once again all of the new ideas rush in and the old ideas start to fade.

The atmosphere of the city is so much different from that of the country that you don’t realize how much you’ve changed until you return home. Even though I have lived in places other than barker, (Lockport, Denver, Boulder), I was too little to remember or to be influenced by much. Beginning with pre-k I attended school in Barker, which has more rumors than cows and more cows than people.

Certain people, myself included, want only one thing to leave the small town. Some people actually do this, and they never look back. Once people escape from the ‘cave’ they don’t want to go back. I know that I don’t want to go back to my cave because it shelters me. People there think that there is nothing more to the world besides Barker. Emotionally I can’t handle that idea. There are good and bad aspects of everyplace, and every place is different, but unless someone gets out and learns something other than that place, then the place will never have the chance to change.

On the other hand Harriet Jacobs uses narration and description to subjectively paint a picture of her ideology for us. She