Compare And Contrast Learning To Read And Write And The Allegory Of The Cave

Within the lives of most, there is a point in time where one begins a journey of knowledge. One’s way of thinking changes drastically from the beginning of a journey to the end, due to an exposure to a new way of thinking along the way. Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” and the piece “Learning to Read and Write” by Frederick Douglass are two literary pieces that both reflect on great journey’s embarked on by the protagonists. The “Allegory of the Cave” presents a protagonist who goes on a journey to enlightenment and conceptualizes his experiences. “Learning to Read and Write” is a narrative of Douglass’ experience learning to read and write as a slave and how his perception of his own life differed going forward. Looking at “Learning to Read

The liberator plays a key role in the prisoner's journey of attaining knowledge. The liberator serves as a driving force to the prisoner, releasing him from what holds him back, exposing him to a new view of reality and compelling him to move up the steep and rugged ascent. Looking through the lens of Plato’s allegory at “Learning to Read and Write” Douglass’ mistress emerges as an important liberator on his journey. Taking into account the initial job of the liberator, it is shown that the mistress engages him with letters and literature; she functions as his initial exposure to this new reality and her teaching serves as his unchaining process. He writes “The first step had been taken. Mistress, in teaching me the alphabet, had given me the inch, and no precaution could prevent me from taking the ell” (Douglass 101). This event where he reflects on the mistress exposing him to the alphabet echoes Plato’s avowal that in order to begin a journey to enlightenment a liberator must expose the prisoner to a new form of reality and show them there is more to the world than their perceptions. In this example “Learning to Read and Write '' fully conforms with the

Once Plato’s liberator has unchained the prisoner, he maintains pushing the prisoner up the steep and rugged ascent until full exposure to reality is achieved. Unlike in the allegory, there is an element of rechaining from Douglass’ liberator that Plato’s allegory does not account for. In talking about the switch of the mistress’ personality from liberating to rechaining Douglass says “The first step in her downward course was in her ceasing to instruct me. She now commenced to practise her husband’s precepts’... I have had her rush at me with a face made all up of fury, and snatch from me a newspaper, in a manner that fully revealed her apprehension” (Douglass 101). The idea of rechaining certainly lacks conformity with Plato’s assertion that the liberator serves as a guide throughout one's journey to enlightenment. The allegory fails to account for the fact that sometimes one’s initial liberator does not maintain a liberating stance throughout the journey. This idea suggests that there are limitations to Plato’s allegorical vision regarding the liberator. In this case, the mistress only provides Douglass with an ounce of information to get him started on his journey before she switches and becomes one of the forces holding him back from enlightenment. This example proves that Plato’s allegory about the path to enlightenment does have some