Allegory Of Cave And Myth Of Sisyphus
The Allegory of the Cave," written by Plato, is a parable entailing
that
humans are afraid of change and what they do not know. In this situation
he
gives, men are living in an underground cave. There is only one entrance
and it
is at the top. Near the entrance of the cave there is a fire burning
which casts
a shadow. The men living in the cave have been there their whole
life. They are
chained so that they can only see the wall and cannot turn
around. When objects
pass by it creates a shadow on the wall. The shadows are
the only thing they can
see and therefore is the only thing they know to
exist. Somehow one of them gets
loose and wonders outside the cave. When he
gets out, he is astonished at what
he finds. He comes back in to tell the
others about what he saw. The other men
think he is mad and plot to kill him.
This shows that people are afraid of
change or what they do not know. This is
true even today. For instance, one of
the major causes of stress is change. A
change in your job, lifestyle, or who
your significant other can cause
stress. Another example comes from a survey on
which race people dislike the
most. The list had all the known races and then
there was one that was made
up. Although they had never heard of that particular
race, it was picked as
the most disliked. This shows that people are afraid or
dislike what they do
not know. Albert Camus, who is the author of "The Myth of
Sisyphus," is
another parable. The man in the story, Sisyphus, has been
condemned by the
gods to roll a rock to the top of a mountain every day of his
life. Every day
he would roll it up the mountain and then the rock would roll
back down to
the bottom. We are told that Sisyphus is an absurd hero. He is
called this
because he knows what will happen after the rock is rolled to the
top, yet he
is content with doing so. "Sisyphus, proletarian of the gods,
powerless and
rebellious, knows the whole extent of his wretched condition: it
is what he
thinks of during his descend. The lucidity that was to constitute his
torture
at the same time crowns his victory." The gods have done this to him
for
punishment, but Sisyphus does not see it as that. Camus writes, "The
struggle
itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man’s heart. One must
imagine
Sisyphus happy." I think that this story relates to us a great
deal.
Camus addresses this when he writes, "The workman of today works
every day in
his life at the same tasks, and his fate is no less absurd."
This statement is
true in that we all have our daily regiment that we go
through. And every day we
finish it, yet the next day we will have to do the
same thing. The "Allegory
of the Cave" and "The Myth of Sisyphus," are both
an attempt to explain
some aspect of the way people think or why we do what
we do. I believe that the
"The Myth of Sisyphus" is the most realistic of
the two. It is true that
every day we strive to finish whatever it is that we
have to do; knowing the
next day we will have to do it again. This story made
me think about my own
life. For instance, right now I am up late doing
something for school. I had
plenty of time to do it earlier, but I put it off
to the very last minute. I
will do the very same thing tomorrow, instead of
getting my schoolwork done
during reasonable hours; I will wait until the
last minute.