Plato's Cave and the Ghetto Book Report

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Just as their problems are caused by humans, their problems can also be solved by humans. This fact is exemplified by the existence of politics, where people learn to befriend and utilize people who would otherwise do them harm. Skill at politics, as Shorris noted, is what distinguished the rich from the poor: "Rich people know…how to negotiate instead of using force. They know how to use politics to get along, to get power. (5).

The Return to the Cave

In the third section of the allegory, Socrates speculates on what would happen if this former prisoner were to return to the cave. Having seen the light, he will have been happy for his edification and piteous of those stuck in the cave, believing their lives dark and ignorant. If he were to return to the cave, he would not be as content as he was when he was previously imprisoned there. The prisoners would not understand his discontent, as the cave is all they have ever known. He would plead with the prisoners look at their life from a different perspective, to see the light instead of the shadows. However, the prisoners would not desire to adopt a different perspective and would even despise him for his strange beliefs. (517a)

Converting the Ghetto

Just as the prosletyzing former prisoner is met with obstinate resistance and disbelief by the inhabitants of the cave, an educated person extolling the virtues of education to inhabitants of the Ghetto will also be met with resistance and disbelief. However, Niece's statement about the light can get people in the ghetto to recognize that their experience of the world has been a lie and that the truth of life is much sweeter.

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It indicates that the forces that assail, poverty, marginalization, and violence, are not facts of life. Rather, these forces are transient. The environment of the ghetto is not only unnatural, but deceptive, just as the Cave was.

Education gives them the tools to puncture the veil of deception by making them curious. Curiosity enlivens a person, it makes them inquisitive, assertive, enthusiastic, and adventurous. These are perfect traits for seeing through illusion and are also conducive to success and enjoyment in life. Shorris recounts his student Abel's reference of Aristotelian incontinence to identify the source of hypocrisy of the Founding Fathers, remarking that the students now "…had an ally in Aristotle, who had given them a way to analyze the actions of their antagonists.." (9). Curiosity leads to understanding and the understanding of one's obstacles, real or perceived, diminishes one's fear of it.

Conclusion

The allegory of the Cave has retained its power, partly because of its literary beauty, which resonates in the soul of all hearers, but also because of its exposition of the primordial human condition: ignorance. All people, rich and poor, are ignorant in some ways because one can never eradicate ignorance, one can only hope to become less ignorant. Viniece makes an invaluable insight in applying the allegory of the Cave to the Ghetto. It is invaluable not because inhabitants of the ghetto are necessarily more ignorant than inhabitants of other communities, but because they have the most to gain from the diminishment of their particular ignorance......

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