Thinking Outside the Box

            Both Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” and Sartre’s “No Exit” are representations of constriction, whether by an exterior or interior force. Plato’s allegory uses dialogue that tells a story to illustrate his ideas while Sartre uses conversation between the characters of the story in order to set the scene and delineate his theme.

            The “Allegory of the Cave” is all about abstractions, and the way they obscure our sense of reality. Plato uses his prisoners to show the difference between those who are enlightened on what reality really is and those who only sense it through abstractions. Plato uses the cave, the chains, and the shadows as a symbol for society and the way it constricts what people observe to be real. The escaped man serves as an example of what could be, if we were to all free ourselves from the “chains” of societal thought. Once the man was enlightened on what reality really was, Plato sent him back into the cave to tell the other prisoners of what is beyond their reality. Their killing him represented the reaction of those who are so stuck in their beliefs and opinions that they refuse to accept any different kind of reality or thought. The killing of the enlightened man, and, in a sense, a true idea of reality, could be avoided by the exposure of everyone to real reality, not just what they believe to be true.

            Sartre, however, uses his allegory of three people in hell to show that people are restricted by what their own thoughts are. In this case, it’s what their thoughts of hell are. Sartre shows that people create their own hell in how we perceive others are viewing us. The reason Garcin, Inez, and Estelle are all put in the room together is because each of them has a trait that will, in fact, torture the others. They are all worried about how others see them. Estelle, for example, has to justify her existence through the observations of others. Sartre is showing restriction of thought through the “torture” presented to the characters. Each of the characters’ thoughts are impeded by the thoughts of others around them, in a sense, creating a specific hell for each of them. Sartre, however, does present them with the option of leaving the room when the door opens, but again, the characters are restricted by their fears of what the other characters with think and say about them when they leave.

            Both Plato and Sartre express the idea of being restricted. However, Plato tells a story that presents the idea that inhibition comes from our surroundings and it is up to us to fix it. Sartre, on the other hand, displays characters that are responsible for creating their own hell and it is only them who cause the restrictions. In both cases, the characters are presented with solutions and choose to not take them, comforted by the restrictions they are experiencing.