Thinking Outside the Box

The theme of how individuals must over come their ignorance in order to achieve a deeper truth or understanding is a common ideal shared by both Plato and Sartre. Each author has a different way of portraying it through their dialogue. For example, Sartre used actions to create imagery within his piece while Plato developed his story through the questions going on between each of the characters. Now, these two authors have their differences in points of views such as Plato believes that its up to the individual to make the choice in order to obtain knowledge while Sartre believes that individuals learn through being tortured or being around others.

"No Exit"

Reading notes:

- There are three characters who are stuck in a single room. 

- The characters' names are Estelle, Garcin, and Inez.

- They setting is placed in the afterlife, but the three characters have trouble figuring out what they are being punished for.

- Setting: a single room with no mirrors.

- Estelle killed her baby by drowning it since the father of the child was not her husband. She later died of pneumonia while the father of the child committed suicide.

- Garcin was a soldier, who deserted, but was later shot 12 times while escaping to Mexico.

- Inez was is love with a woman, who had a husband, but that didn't stop the affair. The woman's husband ends up being killed by a tram, which causes the woman to lose her mind and kill both herself and Inez by turning the gas on within their home.

-The concept of torture: -Estelle is tortured by Garcin since he doesn't love her , but she is torturing Inez by being so interested in Garcin. -Inez tortures Garcin about not admitting whether or not he is a coward. 

-This makes the story ironic due to the fact that they have no idea who or what they are being published by when in reality they are torturing themselves.

Answers:

1. I imagine my hell looking like the setting described by Sartre. I have a tendency to over- think, so  my mind would become either a prison or an escape to relaxation. Personally, I don't believe that there is a fiery physical place called hell. I believe that hell depends on the individual's point of view and beliefs. Each human being is different, so our personal ideas of hell are going to be different as well. Now, if I were to be trapped in the room created by Sartre, I would probably begin to over-think about certain aspects of my past life and develop a feeling of being trapped with no escape.
2. "Everything in moderation" is a quote that I completely agree with. There can be too much of a good thing and can ruin the overall experience since it's no longer as special due to its over usage.
3. The usage of dialogue to develop the tone of the setting provides a sort of challenge to the audience since we must create the imagine of the setting within our own minds. The setting in which Sartre created would be terrible to live in and I would probably still practice my daily routine, but I hope I would be able to accept my surroundings in order to move on and relax peacefully. 

"Allegory of the Cave" Essay and Vocabulary Quiz all wrapped in one

Touch, smell, sight, and sound are the senses in which we, as humans, use to survive each and every day, but what about the usage of our minds? “The Allegory of the Cave” within the book called The Republic  by Plato is centered around the idea that our senses hide a deeper truth. Each of us rely on our senses rather than our analytical thoughts. Now, the figurative language within this piece alludes to this concept and also shows the purpose for which Plato wrote the book, The Republic , which was to show the people and the government that should abdicate or expurgate their gothic senses and understand the true reality of what is going on in order to make the best decisions for their society. 

The term allegory is defined as a story, poem, or picture that hides or alludes to a bigger meaning. “The Allegory of the Cave” illustrates the theme that our minds are the only tool we posses that will allow us to reach a true concept of reality or euphoria. That may have been brusque, but that is the reason why Plato wrote this piece of literature. He wanted to show the people about the importance of knowledge and expanding their horizons, which is why he uses the metaphor of the sun. In addition, Plato wrote to the people for his mentor Socrates, who was killed by the government since they didn’t like how was asking others within the community to question the government’s and their own authority or integrity. What we believe to be the truth or correct may be completely incorrect within the eyes of another. Looking past what we see, hear, or touch will open the doors of our mind and allow a deeper understanding to develop in which we can use to make our lives and the lives around us better. 

Figurative language and vivid imagery bring the allegory to life. The images of shackles binding the characters down expresses how each of us are allowing ourselves to be controlled by our senses rather than our thoughts or beliefs. In addition, we must be willing to accept the real reality in which we discover through knowledge. Our point of views will go through a metamorphosis in which will cause our old point of views to become impossible to relive and those who remained at an impasse with their senses will not relate to your new analytical ideals causing a dichotomy. For example, the remaining individuals in the cave see their old friend as a new shadow instead of who he truly his once he returned to cave. The true reality may not be what was expected, but that doesn’t mean its incorrect. That is up for the individual to decide through their mind. The usage of figurative language and imagery expresses Plato’s belief in mind over matter.

The involvement of our senses is a sine qua non within our daily lives, but that does not mean that we must live by them. Questions, idea, and thoughts are the senses in which we should look to on the parlous quest for the ultimate truth. Plato wrote the “Allegory of the Cave” to express that to the public and to keep Socrates’s beliefs alive through imagery and figurative language. Now, it’s up to us to decide whether to gain the knowledge in order to discover the true reality or to remain attached to our physical senses. 

Allegory of the Cave Sonnet

What we believe to be the ultimate truth may be a just a sham,
Each of us rely on our senses rather than our analytical thoughts.
The allegory of the cave shows how the reliance on our senses can allude to a fake reality that seems as useless as spam.
The chains represent the shackles of our sense their own senses in which that leaves them to be unenlightened and to continue to make decisions through drawing lots.

The metaphor of the sun is a flawless exemplification symbolizes the main theme in which Plato is trying to allude the audience towards bit by bit;
The sun makes a connection with how the light of the sun provides the illumination of the things that remain around us, but yet it does highlight everything that remains a part of reality.
The world in which we live in can only be seen through the knowledge in which we provide regarding it.
Knowledge is the key to gaining pure morality.

Once the true reality has been revealed, it's impossible to return to what once was.
Those who remained in the past point of view will be resistant to the new concepts in which you have discovered.
The truth may not be worth the glory or the applause.
Be cautious to what is uncovered.

The choice to learn and uncover knowledge is up to the individual.
The best teachers and guide can't teach an individual, who is dead set on remaining close-minded and monolingual. 

The Laughing Heart 2.0

your life is your life
don’t let it be clubbed into dank submission.
be on the watch.
there are ways out.
there is a light somewhere.
it may not be much light but
it beats the darkness.
be on the watch.
the gods will offer you chances.
know them.
take them.
you can’t beat death but
you can beat death in life, sometimes.
and the more often you learn to do it,
the more light there will be.
your life is your life.
know it while you have it.
you are marvelous
the gods wait to delight
in you.

By: Charles Bukowski

This poem was an assignment at the beginning of the year in which we had to memorize the speech during class. Now, memorizing this piece was worth it due to the fact that I am still in love with this poem. It's empowering yet reserved. I wanted to post this poem once again because it helps put things in perspective especially with college application deadlines coming up.

Hamlet "To Be or Not to Be" Collaboration!

A few students and I decided to team up in order to recite the "To Be or Not to Be" soliloquy from Hamlet. We created a video that showed various students reciting a few lines of the speech in places on campus that were significant to them. For example, I said my lines in the gym since volleyball is a passion of mine. The video is on Shane's blog and the link to the blog is right here. Hope you guys like it!

Allegory of the Cave Questions

1. The Allegory of the Cave symbolizes the chains in which blind them from the exposure to new knowledge or information while others have those opportunities.

2. The key elements of imagery presented within the cave would be that we take the knowledge that is given to us and we don’t fight against it since we believe that we know the whole situation when we don’t. The usage of the word light means the vast collection of education and learning (limitless). 

3. The allegory shows that often times, we allow our knowledge to be controlled just like filter bubbles. In order to fully see what is going on, we must enlighten ourselves.

4. The imagery of shackles and chains is used to show the limits of knowledge. Due to these limits, the prisoners are chained to their beliefs and believe that it is the only correct thing out there since they think their is no other additional information. 

5. Similar to the shackles, traditions chain us down due to the fact that we do one thing and believe what others are saying if it’s a apart of the culture of the tradition.

6. The freed prisoner is used to express the sensation of enlightened and sees the world in a completely different life. 

7. The absence of clarity provides the audience with suspense and is shown throughout the story. The contrast between dark and light is used to show this concept in an exceptional way.

8. Knowledge is a choice for the prisoners, but they must be willing yo go out and learn, grow, and prosper.

9. There is a difference between appearance and reality within the Allegory of the Cave due to the fact that appearance (shadows) cause individuals to lose their common sense. 

10. Hypothetically speaking If Socrates is incorrect, every individual would be chained to their limited knowledge. This would cause major problems due to bias in which could lead to war, revolutions, etc.