Rhetorical Analysis of Platos the Allegory of the Cave

Eden Scharer Darrin Broadway English III-4 5th December, 2010 From Darkness to Sunlight: An Analysis of the Allegory of the Cave Imagine yourself sitting inside a dark, damp, cave where the only thing you can see are moving shadows on the cave wall in front of you. You can’t move anywhere or see anything besides the shadows, and these are the only things you’ve seen for your entire life, so these moving dark images are the most real things you’ve ever known. At some point in our childhood we were mentally in this state of darkness, we didn’t know anything about the world or have any complex thoughts. How then, were we brought out of our caves of darkness and misunderstanding? The Allegory of the Cave is a well known section of Plato’s†¦show more content†¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"†¦human beings living in a underground cave, which has a mouth open towards the light and reaching all along the cave; here they have been from their childhood, and have their legs and necks chained so that they cannot move, and can only see before them, being prevented by the chains from turning round their heads. Above and behind them a fire is blazing at a distance, and between the fire and the prisoners there is a raised way; and you will see, if you look, a low wall built along the way, like the screen which marionette players have in front of them, over which they show the puppets.† (Plato) This entire passage is a dialogue between Socrates and Glaucon. Glaucon was the older brother of Plato, and Socrates was the teacher of Plato and Glaucon at his academy. This is a conversation that is fictional but the fact that it is a conversation between a teacher and his student shows that the teacher is trying to tell his student an analogous tale to teach him a lesson and that is the purpose behind the way the paragraph is written, but the exact lesson being taught by Socrates isn’t revealed until later in the passage. This is also the reason the diction in these paragraphs is so formal, because the teacher is giving a formal lesson and at the same time trying to spea k in terms his student will understand, and to engage thought in the mind of his student because he isShow MoreRelatedThe Effects Of Imperialism In George Orwells Shooting An Elephant1633 Words   |  7 Pagesclaim and experiences are very relatable today because as long as there are fathers and mothers and families, there are going to be those that re-live the past and create memories that last their families a lifetime, or perhaps even longer.    Process Analysis: Joan Didion, On Keeping a Notebook   Ã‚  Ã‚   In the selection On Keeping a Notebook, Joan Didion uses her experiences in day to day life as a writer in order to demonstrate the importance/methods of keeping a daily notebook. Didion appeals to her audience