The Greek philosopher Plato depicted an analogy where people or prisoners facing a wall were chained for as long as they were alive. Due to the fire behind them it created shadows as of passerby between them. That was their reality. But as he became freed and expose to the world, he learned very quickly that the life they lived did not represent reality. It was nothing more than a mere illusion. We are all born into some way of life; either it be religion, a belief system or a social class but essentially we are born into an identity or one is forced upon us. Like in Douglas’s Narrative of the life where “slaveholders have ordained, and by law established, that the children of the slave women shall in all cases follow the condition of their …show more content…
Douglas became enlightened by educating himself and in Plato’s reading the man was “dragged forcibly away” (Plato 65) to the outside world. But the similarity, in both they got the chance to experience the real world. However, they were both constrained. We see the effects of enlightenment; where witnessing the truth or realism can affect a person, negatively or positively. As for Douglas, although he felt that “learning to read had a curse than a blessing” (Douglas 252) he stayed proactive in abolishing the movement to reveal the injustice. (real life …show more content…
The people in power or the authority and the media can sometimes distort our truth. Making us the “chained” like in the allegory. But as Douglas says learning to read and write can free one of mental bondage making us mindful of the fact. “for if you teach a nigger how to read, there would be no keeping him. It would forever unfit him to be a slave. He would at once become unmanageable and of no value to his master” (Douglas 250). Though there is some truth that many are stuck in the social class that they are born into, it is wrong to say we are fallen. Identity is not always totally fixed, for as we see many break their stereotype and rise above prejudices; like many Baruch