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.