Synthsis Idea Propsal :)

For my synthesis paper I would like to pick apart the story, The Allegory of The Cave and synthesize it with the song I Can See Clearly Now by Johnny Nash. Although both very different purposed they do surprisingly share some common similarities. The Allegory of The Cave is simply about prisoners being contained in a cave. They know nothing about the world outside of their cave, they can see shadows of objects projected on the cave walls in front of them, and since knowing nothing else they believe what they see is reality. One day a prisoner become free of the cave and is liberated to see the outside world. He then becomes enlightened seeing that the world outside is much different than the silhouettes he was introduced to on the walls of the cave. The song I Can See Clearly Now could have different meanings to different people. Johnny Nash basically talks about how a person has overcome pain and suffering and obstacles in their life, and there now able to see clearly. To me this song and relate to the story The Allegory of The Cave in two ways. For one these people are chained into a cave, I feel that they would experience some kind of suffering or confusion, maybe frustration to understand, that what they see on the walls could be reality. Then when the prisoner who is able to free himself out of the cave, he gets through the pain and suffering, he can “see clearly now”, he is free from all costs and is able to experience the outside world for himself without holding back.

Synthesizing Joy

Joy is defined by the dictionary as being the emotion of great delight or happiness caused by something exceptionally good or satisfying; keen pleasure; elation; but to me and Kristin its something much more.

“I believe that joy is your own personal feeling of happiness, only you yourself know what joy feels like to you.” Myself

“Joy, to me, is doing something that makes me happy.” Kristin

Kristin + Myself = “ Joy is a very internal feeling, it is something that you do for your own personal sentiment.”

Joy...?

When I hear the word joy i instantly think of bliss. I believe that joy is your own personal feeling of happiness, only you yourself know what joy feels like to you. Joy is what makes you feel good and only you are able to know what that is. I think joy is a very personal feeling, but is easily displayed publicly by smiling, laughter or just being in a whimsical mood.

Reality TV... Allegory of The Cave

In the dictionary the word allegory is defined as a representation of an abstract or spiritual meaning through concrete or material forms; figurative treatment of one subject under the guise of another. To my understanding this means a person believes what they are shown. In Plato’s The Allegory of The Cave, the prisoners have never seen outside their cave; but they are shown silhouettes of different objects on the cave walls and they are told that the shadow specifically is that object, the prisoners of course believe this not knowing anything else. I think in today’s society there are many representations of allegory happening right before our eyes. The biggest example that I could think of is reality TV. Every night millions of satisfied people tune their TVs to their favorite reality TV shows; sitting their soaking up every bit of action and drama preformed by the people on the show. One of the most popular reality TV shows I can think of is the Real World. The show consists of seven complete strangers thrown together in a house to live and work together. The show is filled with romances, affairs, fights and of course tons of drama, it keeps the viewers hooked. But why is this allegory? Well it is simple, as the viewers sit there and watch this so called reality TV show, they believe that everything they are seeing is real; I mean it is reality TV. For all we know these people could be professional actors; maybe not even actors, they could be real people, but they could be reading off of a script. And how are we supposed to even know if the show is really taking place where they say it is, one season they were supposedly living in Australia, but we would never have known if it really took place in California. Allegory is convincing us of something we are not completely sure of, like the prisoners in the cave believed what they were being shown was actual, we believe all the drama on reality TV shows is real.

A Turn On Gender Roles

A woman carrying a man, something I know I thought that I would never see. This picture is a perfect example of defying sterotypical gender roles. As the public knows, it is always common to see men carrying women around; you see superheroes carrying women in distress out of danger, you see grooms always picking up their new brides, it has always just been, men carrying women. This picture defies that role. It shows the women somewhat fierce and strong, kind of saying “I can do this” or “I don’t need you to pick me up”. Then we have the man who has kind of a feminine look to his face, like “Oh how nice”. This picture is basically saying women can do it. Women can be just as strong as men. I like how this picture contradicts the typical gender role. I know I personally am a firm believer of equality. I believe that women can do almost anything that a man can do, if not the same, maybe even better. Gender roles are a bit degrading for me, being a woman and all. Like for instance the show Desperate House Wives, what is that? Its basically showing young girls that they are going to grow up to serve a man, and then get bored with it and become pernicious. I feel that it degrades women completely, like why don’t any of them have successful jobs and are humble and honest to their spouses. The show is also a great example of gender roles because the husband is out working, while the woman is a house wife. The picture displayed at the top, of the woman carrying the man, entirely contradicts the sterotypical gender roles and that’s why I loved it.