Practice Essay

As humans, it is our nature to judge others by their actions and how they react in certain situations. In Jean Sartre’s “No Exit” and Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave,” the character’s reactions to the situations they are placed in help the reader understand where each character comes from. Let’s say, for example, one friend from a group goes to see the new Hunger Games movie, Catching Fire. The next day, this one friend tries to explain to the others how the “games” worked, but they could not understand because they have not seen it yet. This friend is like the enlightened prisoner in ‘The Allegory of the Cave” and the others represent the prisoners still shackled down stuck staring at the shadows.

In Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave,” the one prisoner has to courage to step out into the unknown from the safety of the cave. When he comes back to the cave and attempts to explain the new world he has seen, the other prisoners cannot comprehend what he is telling them because they only know what they have seen. This event is similar to the situation presented above. Since the others have not seen the movie, Catching Fire, what the friend is trying to explain is outside their “known world” and they can’t appreciate what he is saying to them in attempt to try and enlighten them on something new. This friend now becomes an outsider because he can see more than the others can. The actions of the character’s in Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” help the reader understand where the author is coming from. In a sense, the enlightened prisoner represents Plato because he uses this allegory in attempt to share with others of his view on reality. And we, as readers, are the prisoners inside the cave, because this is a new idea and it is difficult for us to get a hold of.

Estelle, in Sartre’s “No Exit” is the exact opposite of the enlightened prisoner. She is one of the people where they think, “If I close my eyes, maybe it will go away.” If she was placed in that situation, her goal would be to avoid it at all costs rather than to face it head on. In Sartre’s “No Exit” she does not want to accept the fact that the three of them are all dead and stuck in hell. She says, “Please, please don’t use that word (dead). It’s so crude.” It also takes her half of the play to open up and share the reason for why she ended up in hell. Unlike the enlightened prisoner, she is extremely stubborn and does not agree with change and what’s to just live in the now.

Both authors, Sartre and Plato, develop characters and use their actions to get their point across. Some characters will succeed like the enlightened prisoner in “The Allegory of the Cave,” but others will just crumble and fall like Estelle in “No Exit.” Both authors use their characters to represent the split of what reality is in society.