Platos The Allegory of the Cave Essay Example for Free

Platos The Allegory of the Cave Essay Even in this abridged version, Platos fable The Allegory of the Cave reflects the vast wisdom of Plato, his teacher and the philosophers of his time. The storys meaning and lessons are as significant today as they were then, and its inclusion in The Republic is well earned. The intentions of Plato in sharing this story seem to be fairly simple. As with all of the works that he included in The Republic, he is attempting to convey a message that relates to government and leadership. I also believe that this story conveys a message to, not just leaders, but people in general. The message that is expressed by this work is that, A lie told often enough becomes the truth.(-Lenin), and when someone is convinced of this lie, the liar can control them. This fable also tells us how, what some people believe to be true may be in fact the exact opposite to truth, and that people must always be open minded, just in case their beliefs are wrong. In the story, the prisoners are convinced that the shadows they see are alive, real and able to speak to them. In fact, however, they are being lied to by puppeteers. Because they have seen this lie so many times, and because it is all that they have seen, for them, it has become the truth. As such, the puppeteers are able to control their lives, by speaking to these prisoners as the shadows. This lesson becomes quite relevant to todays society. It is portrayed in works such as The Matrix and Animal Farm, where the characters are lied to, but because they hear the lie so often, they perceive it as truth. In reality, we find this message to also be evident in the forms of such things as propaganda, in which a message is repeated by so many times, that each person hears a relay from numerous sources. Eventually, because of the numerous sources and repetition of the message, it seems to them to become normal to hear and hence believable. This of course relates to our leaders and government. If such administrations were to use methods like propaganda to convince the public that, for example, the stock market was free trade when in fact it was government controlled, then the government would be able to effectively control the flow of money, and hence peoples lives, without anyone being the wiser. In the end, the ultimate message is that people are able to use lies to exploit others and so we must all be wary. This then relates to the second message conveyed by the work. The piece tells us that the prisoners have extreme difficulty in accepting the reality that the shadows they had seen werent real and how these prisoners would rather return to the shadows over staying in the light. At the end of the story, when a prisoner who has seen the truth returns to tell others, it is implied and can be seen from the reactions of the freed prisoners, that those who still believe in the shadows would prefer to keep doing so. These parts of the story bring to mind two intertwined messages. The first is that, in general, all people have their own views and beliefs on life, and they are happier living under whatever delusions they have convinced themselves of, rather than considering contradictory beliefs. Essentially, for most people ignorance is bliss. Just like the prisoners who are freed from the cave and forced to see the real world, people fear the knowledge of something that might interfere or contradict the beliefs they rely upon. For the most part, they would much rather go on not knowing, and turn from the light and long to return to the shadows. The second seems to be a warning to do the exact opposite of what has been stated above. The fact that the characters in the story, whose views are wrong, are prisoners is very symbolic. Not only are these people prisoners of the puppeteers, they are also prisoners of their own beliefs. Because they do not want to find out about what is real, they are condemned to believe in what is not. The piece warns us that we must not blindly follow our own beliefs, without continually viewing and considering other views that may be true as well. If we do not always consider the ideas of others, we will essentially be trapped by our own adamant conviction in what we think is real. This lesson has become evident in countless cases throughout history, where beliefs about a geocentric universe, a flat earth, etc. were all held to e true and the introduction of the ideas we hold as true today was ridiculed and deemed ludicrous. Today, we believe that the galaxy is heliocentric and that the world is round, but we must always, at some point, question that which believe in. Through this simple story, we are able to see a seldom-realized aspect of human nature, in that many of us blindly follow what we are told, and consequently believe. We can relate deeply to the fable, because, like the prisoners, we as a whole prefer to not know some truths, believe some lies, and have difficulty accepting some realities. By the end of the work, we are left with new thoughts about the reality of our beliefs and faith and are encouraged to re-evaluate our paradigms.

The Lizard King Essay -- Jim Morrison Music Essays

The Lizard King Some may see The Doors front man and offbeat poet extraordinaire Jim Morrison as the epitome of American culture, while countless others may see him as the complete antithesis. Rising to fame as American involvement in the Vietnam War reached a pinnacle, Morrison’s acclaim grew in a time of great American turmoil. The war in Vietnam was held as an issue of high controversy amongst many Americans. Many saw our involvement as utter ludicrousness and did not comprehend the need to send U.S. troops overseas to fight a war they had nothing to do with. As a result, certain Americans began both directly and indirectly rebelling against the beliefs and norms of the time, and thus, the counterculture movement was born. Jim Morrison became an icon of this rebellious revolution against a confused American government. James Douglas Morrison was born on December 8, 1943 in Melbourne, on Florida’s east coast. He was the eldest child of George Stephen and Clara Clark Morrison whose latter two children were Anne and Andrew respectively. By order of his father, a career Navy man, Jim attended naval academy for his elementary and high school years. He later attended St. Petersburg Junior College and Florida State University before finally graduating from UCLA in 1965 as a film major with a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree. The symbol that was Jim Morrison had been bred completely by the society that he grew up in. Fueled by an era of governmental protest and an emerging counterculture movement, Jim Morrison lashed out in his own way against the injustice he saw in America. The entire concept of being able to speak one’s own mind is a thoroughly American ideal in itself, obviously dating all the way back to the Bill of Rights. H... ...see as wrong. Jim Morrison personifies this ideal. Over the years since his tragic death, Morrison has become somewhat of an American Legend, a myth. His tale seems to exist amongst those of other American legends like Davy Crockett, Johnny Appleseed, and Paul Bunyan. The Jim Morrison story, however, is as real as they come. Many Americans of today look to him as a symbol of rebellion and as a constant reminder that we as a nation and as individuals are free to follow and shape our own destiny. Molded by a culture that often questions authority, Morrison left behind him a legacy of maintaining that ideal. Jim Morrison was and always will be a true American. WORKS CITED Lang, Joe (2001). JimMorrisonBiography. "http://www.hotshotdigital.com/ WellAlwaysRemember/JimMorrisonBio.html" Mr. Mojo Risin’ – Jim Morrison. (2000) "http://www.mojorisin.net/jima1.html"

Compare and Contrast: ‘Always a Motive’ and ‘Gentlemen, Your Verdict’ Essay

Recently I’ve read two very good short stories: Always a Motive (by Dan Ross) and Gentlemen, Your Verdict (by Michael Bruce). Always a Motive is about a young man, named Joe Manetti, who is accused of kidnapping. Gentlemen, Your Verdict is about five men who are questioned about the murder of sixteen crewmembers. While both Always a Motive and Gentlemen, Your Verdict are written in third person and pull at the readers emotions, Always a Motives theme is how people tend to see things only from one perspective and things can change in an instant while Gentlemen, Your Verdicts theme focuses on the justification of murder in certain circumstances. Gentlemen, Your Verdict is a story that teaches us that sometimes in life we have to kill, or let someone die to ensure the survival of others. In this story Lieutenant-Commander Oram (who’s in charge of the submarine) is forced to play god when his submarine goes down. There is only enough air for two days and rescue won’t come until five days after their oxygen supply will run out. Lieutenant-Commander Oram would rather let some of his crew survive than have them all die. But he has a hard choice to make: who will be the ones to survive, which I believe is also a part of the theme. He makes a solemn choice to kill sixteen men, including himself, to save the lives of the five married men on-board; because they have a wife and possibly even children that would live sorrowfully if their father was gone. This statement is turned around in Always a Motive, where a father loses his son and wife and is forced to live a miserable life alone. Joe Manetti was a father to a little boy and a happy husband, but tragedy struck when his son was ran over and killed by a truck. After that Joe’s life fell apart; his wife left him, he doesn’t work anymore, he barely eats, and he runs away from his problems by driving , driving for however long until he feels okay. One day during one of his driving ‘spells’ he comes back from getting groceries and finds a baby on his backseat. He finds a note on the baby saying he belonged to the Millers. Joe takes care of the babe and brings him home to a worried father; but he suddenly finds himself getting questioned about kidnapping the Miller boy. Now, the inspector who questions him finds out Joe’s story and he feels for Joe; but he knows that when there’s â€Å"[people] like [Joe] involved† (Tigers of the Snow p109), people who  have lost their children, they usually are the culprits. Abruptly an expressway toll station worker comes bearing an alibi for Joe, saying that at the time the Miller boy was kidnapped Joe was at the toll. This reveals the themes of the story: how people tend to see things only from one perspective and things can change in an instant. The inspector only saw the side of Joe that made him a kidnapper and suddenly Joe is an unsuitable kidnapper. But there is one thing that lacks from Joe’s story, his motive for returning the Miller boy without the help of the police. But the man who lost his boy only wanted to see the man who found his. The moment that Joe says this is one of the most heartbreaking pieces of literature that I have read. Both Always a Motive and Gentlemen, Your Verdict have their moments where, as a reader, you feel for the characters. However different these stories are, they both pull at the readers heartstrings.

American Authors Tributes for Memorial Day