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The allegory of the cave ap english essay
Analyze “The Allegory of the Cave”
The allegory of the cave ap english essay
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There are many factors that come together to make a novel come to life just by the words and meanings used by the author. One way that makes a novel flourish is by connecting the characters and the story’s plot line to other stories, ideas, and events that can come in many forms. Throughout the novel, The Allegory of the Cave is connected to the experiences Charlie, the main character, goes through. The Allegory of the Cave is about a prisoner in a cave being shown shadows in which he thinks is reality; therefore when he is brought up into the light of the actual world it is revealed to him that what he thought was real is not. In the novel Flowers for Algernon, the author Daniel Keyes uses the framework of The Allegory of the Cave to develop Charlie in that he starts out in a metaphorical cave, journeys to the light of intelligence, and finally returns the cave once more. Daniel Keyes illustrates very strong connections between Charlie Gordon in Flowers for Algernon and the prisoner who approaches the entrance …show more content…
This quote shows how Charlie is connected the the prisoner because he is trapped in a metaphorical cave of his mind, or in the books words a dark room, staring out at the amazing brightness outside of what he is used too. In Charlie’s scenario the brightness is the intelligence he does not have and the keyhole is almost like a window; he can see the intelligence but he can't reach it. While Charlie is in the cave and sees the light outside he doesn't fully understand what the light actually is before the surgery because that light is not apart of his reality. Charlie relates to the prisoner because the cave and the darkness of his mind is all they’ve known their whole life so when they are presented with something different from their reality it doesnt register that their world is not what it is. The connections between the allegory and the novel can help the world with questioning their reality and the world they know, if they even know it
Meaning, that Characters like “Charlie” search for truths about different problems in life, but the answers may be hidden or lie beneath other things shielding it from one's eyes. For example, in the book “Flowers for Algernon” Charlie said, “I'm like a man born blind who has been given a chance to see the light.” (170) He also stated, “I had reached a new level, and anger and suspicion were my first reactions to the world around me.” (85) These quotes emphasis the deeper meaning because by Charlie saying “I'm like a man born blind...”
Both authors make a point of showing the narrow-mindedness of humans by nature. In “Allegory of the Cave”, the prisoners believed that the shadows they were seeing were reality, with nothing more to it. The comfort of the said perceived, and therefore the fear of the unrecognized outside world would end in the prisoner being forced to climb the steep ascent of the cave and step outside int...
Miss Kinnian, a character in Daniel Keyes’s Flowers for Algernon, is caring and doesn’t give up.
”And she said, Charlie, you’re going to have a second chance. If you volunteer for this experiment you might get smart. They don’t know if it will be permanent but there’s a chance.” This story is about Charlie, who has an IQ of 68 and is extremely unintelligent, becoming smart through an operation, along with a mouse named Algernon. It shows how he changes and what eventually happens in the end.
In the story "Flowers for Algernon", the main character, Charlie Gordon is a mentally retarded 37 year-old man with an IQ of sixty-eight. Although he might not have been smart, I believe that Charlie was the definition of happiness. He worked happily as a janitor, was motivated to learn, and had a great time with his so called ?friends.? After Charlie undergoes an experiment that triples his IQ, his life changes for the worse. With intelligence does not come happiness.
Many popular novels are often converted into television movies. The brilliant fiction novel, Flowers for Algernon written by Daniel Keyes, was developed into a dramatic television film. Flowers for Algernon is about a mentally retarded man who is given the opportunity to become intelligent through the advancements of medical science. This emotionally touching novel was adapted to television so it could appeal to a wider, more general audience. Although the novel and film are similar in terms of plot and theme, they are different in terms of characters.
The book “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes, is a first-person narrative composed of “progress reports” about the journey of a 32-year-old developmentally disabled man named Charlie Gordon. Charlie is the first to ever undergo an experimental surgery designed to increase mental capabilities. Before the surgery, Gordon is told to keep a journal to document his progress known as “progress reports.” Over time Gordon gradually gains knowledge and realizes he was mocked his entire life. Once Gordon's intelligence begin’s to increase his ethical perspective changes.
An allegory is a story that has hidden meaning buried in it, usually a moral, political, or religious meaning. The book Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach, and the short story “The Myth of the Cave” by Plato, are both considered to be allegories. In fact, they are very similar allegories because their hidden meanings are alike. In “The Myth of the Cave,” the people are sitting in a deep, dark cave with nothing to live for. Similarly, in “Jonathan Livingston Seagull,” the flock is wrapped up in the idea that all they have to do in life is find food and eat it. Also, the main characters in both stories had a mentor that showed them that there is indeed, more to life than what they have been doing. In both stories, there was a higher
“Flowers for Algernon” follows a young man in his journey through scientific experimentation to (hopefully) cure him of his suspiciously low IQ. Written by Daniel Keyes in 1958, the story has become a somewhat classic piece of literature, captivating its’ readers in the intensely real, fascinating, yet somewhat agonizing tale of Charlie Gordon. The book started out as a short story published in a 1950s magazine. The “story” emotionally moved so many people that eventually, Daniel Keyes decided to write and publish the full-length novel. The way that the author uses descriptive language and detailed setting and plot descriptions really evoke the readers’ imagination, making for an extremely captivating story.
I think you are better off being dumb because you already know how to deal with being dumb, and everyone already knows how to help you understand stuff. In the story Flowers for Algernon, Charlie got a surgery to make him smarter but being smarter isn't always good. Your friends before you get the surgery will most likely not be your friends if you're smart because they might be dumb too and they probably don't want to be friends with someone who's smart. They may feel this way because they might feel like they're going to correct them or feel intimidated.
In the short story “Flowers for Algernon” the whole was being told from Charlie’s point to view. In the short story “Flowers for Algernon” there are two types of characterization. There are direct and indirect, the short story has both of them. At some point he’ll talk about how nice Miss. Kinnian is and how nice his “friends” are.
The "Allegory" depicts a number of people who are imprisoned in a cave, chained by the legs and neck so that they cannot move, nor can they turn their heads; they see only towards the back wall opposite the cave opening. These people have been chained in this manner their entire lives. Sometimes objects and people pass in front of the cave opening, and shadows play upon the back wall. Since the people have only seen the shadows, they assume that the shadows are the real objects and beings of the world. They watch the shadows, measuring them, trying to understand them, and soon honors are bestowed upon those persons who can see the...
“Flowers for Algernon, first published in 1959, is considered a landmark work on both science fiction and disability literature,” (Werlock 2009). The American Library Association reports that this novel was banned as an obscene for its love scenes. When the main character, Charlie Gordon, increases his IQ from 68 to a level that makes him a genius (after received experimental brain surgery), his maturity leads him to fall in love with his teacher, and a sexual encounter ensues. This caused Flowers for Algernon to be banned and challenged in many places (Plant City, Florida- 1976, Emporium, Pennsylvania- 1977, Oberlin High School (Ohio) - 1983, among others). Most people consider the sexual scenes fairly mild, but there are those who consider any mention of sexual behavior inappropriate for teens or pre-teens, hence the attempts at censorship. Many of the challenges have proved unsuccessful, but the book has occasionally been banned from school libraries including some in Pennsylvania and Texas. Flowers for Algernon has won numerous awards, even for the film, and it is regularly taught in schools around the world; therefore, it should remain on shelves.
Throughout Plato 's story "The Allegory of the cave" men are stuck in this cave with their backs turned away from the light, until one day a man turns towards the light and learns for himself what the light is about. The man than explores and begins to educate himself on everything and anything, he then tries to take everything he has learned back down to the cave to get his fellow cave members to step out and learn what the light is all about. The metaphor that Plato 's places in this story is how the cave is represents the human mind and the light represents the understanding of life
The Allegory of the Cave is Plato's explanation of the education of the soul toward enlightenment. He sees it as what happens when someone is educated to the level of philosopher. He contends that they must "go back into the cave" or return to the everyday world of politics, greed and power struggles. The Allegory also attacks people who rely upon or are slaves to their senses. The chains that bind the prisoners are the senses. The fun of the allegory is to try to put all the details of the cave into your interpretation. In other words, what are the models the guards carry? the fire? the struggle out of the cave? the sunlight? the shadows on the cave wall? Socrates, in Book VII of The Republic, just after the allegory told us that the cave was our world and the fire was our sun. He said the path of the prisoner was our soul's ascent to knowledge or enlightenment. He equated our world of sight with the intellect's world of opinion. Both were at the bottom of the ladder of knowledge. Our world of sight allows us to "see" things that are not real, such as parallel lines and perfect circles. He calls this higher understanding the world "abstract Reality" or the Intelligeble world. He equates this abstract reality with the knowledge that comes from reasoning and finally understanding. On the physical side, our world of sight, the stages of growth are first recognition of images (the shadows on the cave wall) then the recognition of objects (the models the guards carry) To understand abstract reality requires the understanding of mathematics and finally the forms or the Ideals of all things (the world outside the cave). But our understanding of the physical world is mirrored in our minds by our ways of thinking. First comes imagination (Socrates thought little of creativity), then our unfounded but real beliefs. Opinion gives way to knowledge through reasoning (learned though mathematics). Finally, the realization of the forms is mirrored by the level of Understanding in the Ways of Thinking. The key to the struggle for knowledge is the reasoning skills acquired through mathematics as they are applied to understanding ourselves. The shadows on the cave wall change continually and are of little worth, but the reality out side the cave never changes and that makes it important.