Plato's "Myth of the Cave" describes a very important message. This book was written more than 2500 years ago in the year 400 BC. The excerpt is a conversation of Socrates with Glaucon. Socrates tells Glaucon that the people in an underground cave, these people have been in the cave since childhood, they have been chained so that they can only see what is in front of them the fire is lit behind them There is a raised wall between them and the fire, the prisoners cannot see each other or themselves. The only things the prisoners can see are the shadows of themselves, of others and of the things that are carried onto the fire even the puppeteers, when they see the shadows of the puppets think it is real. Prisoners only know the world as an illusion. If a prisoner is released and forced to turn his neck, the fire will cause pain in his eyes. He will feel pain when seeing those things that cast shadows, «he will not be able to see the realities whose shadows he had seen in his previous state; and then conceive someone to tell him that what he saw before was an illusion” (Plato 514). Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay He will not be able to name the things he saw as a shadow, if he leaves the cave, it will be even more painful. However he will slowly recover and when he does he will see the state of the other prisoners and consider himself lucky. If he went back, however, if he went back to telling everyone about the false life that exists, "wouldn't it be ridiculous?" (Plato 517). He would be the laughing stock of the prisoners, he would have difficulty walking because his eyes were not suitable and he would make a fool of himself, they would think that the sunlight had ruined his eyes, "The men would say of him that he went up and down without eyes; and that it was better not to even think of going up” (Plato 517). The prisoner will be afraid to go out and kill anyone who tries to take him out of the cave and they will not question whether they are real or not. However, the smartest people are the ones who see the shadows and the puppets they are cast in, they also see the light they are cast in. The smartest people are more aware of what they are surrounds It also says that the average person is stuck in a boring life, that they are stuck in some kind of cave unable to see the true beauty that life has to offer, that people imagine they are seeing real things. Only once they leave their caves will they see the true beauty of reality, at first it will be overwhelming and blinded by reality, but once they get used to it they will see their past as depressing and will be lucky to see it. They are unable to tell their friends about their new discovery and will be laughed at if they do.