Final!!!!!!!

Through out the books and movies we have read and viewed in class, the concept of truth vs. false reality is a common link. In Plato’s Allegory of a Cave, Plato outlines a group of people chained to a cave floor in such a way that they may only look at the wall. Behind them stands a puppeteer behind a sheet with a flame casting light towards the cave wall. The puppeteer holds up figures and their shadows are cast upon the cave wall that the prisoners are facing. The prisoners, not knowing anything else, see the images of the shadows as the actual creatures and objects they represent. If a prisoner were to leave the cave at first he would feel the pain of his eyes adjusting to the natural light of the sun. Once adjusted, the first objects they will connect with are the shadows. Now enlightened, the prisoner realizes that the reality they knew, the shadows on the cave wall, have all been a lie. Because the enlightened individual knows the truth, the prisoner feels compelled to reveal the truth to the other prisoners.

To apply this idea of truth vs. false truth, lets look at the works we read during the year. In Tennessee William’s Streetcar Named Desire, the main character Blanche creates a false reality for herself and for those whom she meets because of her mental instability. She avoids the truth and makes up her own whenever possible, “I don't want realism. I want magic! Yes, yes, magic. I try to give that to people. I do misrepresent things. I don't tell truths. I tell what ought to be truth.” Though she is aware that all of her actions are false, that is what she wants. She wants the rest of the world to be as she pleases; every aspect of her life is to her choising because she creates her own reality.

Continuing with connections to the Allegory of a Cave, Leonard Shelby from Memento, has a mental condition that prevents him from making new memories. As a result he has a unique and genuine ability to create his own reality. "I'm just someone who wanted to make things right. Can't I just let myself forget what you've told me? Can't I just let myself forget what you've made me do." Lenny can creates his own reality through the notes he leaves himself. Whenever he receives new information that he needs to find his wife's "killer" he makes a little note. On the flip side, whenever he receives information that he doesn't want to remember, such as the the quote above. Because of his condition he won't remember anything he has done that doesn't receive propper notification in the form of tatoos.

In William Shakespere's Twelfth Night Malvolio is the subject of an intense practical joke. He creates his own reality when he recieves the fake love letter from Toby.
Malvolio: "M"- alvolio. "M"-why, that begins my name!
Fabian: Did not I say he would work it out? The cur is excellent at faults
Malvolio:"M." But then there is no consonancy in the sequal that suffers under probation. "A" should follow but "O" does.
The letter is initialed M.O.A.I. which in no way represents Malvolio. His own deciphering of the letter to create a reality to his liking. Though his mindset is as he wishes, he has put himself in a hellish condition that will push him to the point of insanity, all because of a practicle joke.

Oscar Wilde once said "Only the shallow know themselves." Those who are shallow hide their true identity and create a false reality for the rest of the world. When they are alone they may show their true side, yet when in public, they hide behind their false identity. This technique allows people like Blanche to hide from the rest of the world.

So what is reality? Who’s to say that any one reality is the “truth?” The world doesn’t stop moving so we accept whatever reality is placed before us without question. But perhaps we should start questioning. What will come of "truth" and "facts" if everyone creates their own reality?

Daily Writing things parte dos

"Only the shallow know themselves."
-Oscar Wilde (Barbara Belford, Oscar Wilde: A Certain Genius)

This idea of "No one knows you better than yourself" pertains to this quote and reality because the shallow members of society often portray themselves in a way that is not at all themselves. They put on a disguise for the rest of the world. They are the puppeteers and the rest of the world is the caved individuals and their "disguise" is the shadow on the wall

Nora:Of course. Besides, I was the one responsible for it. Whenever Torvald has given me money for new dresses and such things I have never spent more than half of it; I have always bought the simplest and cheapest things. Thank heaven and clothes look well on me, and so Torvald has never noticed it. But it was often very hard on me, Christine-because it is delightful to be really well dressed, isn't it? (Henrik Ibsen, A Doll's House pg. 13)

The idea of truth vs. false truth appears here in two different ways. First, Nora is purchasing cheaper and more simple clothes to save money. Her husband is being tricked into believing that she is wearing expensive clothing. Second, Nora was saving money behind her husbands back so that they may go on a vacation, which is just what Torvald needs to get over his illness. Nora's lack of spending and deception of her husband becomes the shadow's on the cave wall which Torvald is seeing.

Malvolio: "M"-Malvolio. "M"-why, that begins my name!
Fabian: Did not I say he would work it out? The cur is excellent at faults
Malvolio:"M." But then there is no consonancy in the sequal that suffers under probation. "A" should follow but "O" does.
(William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, Act 2. sc. 5)

Malvolio plays an interesting part in the Allegory of a Cave analogy with this quotation. When he receives the fake love letter from "Olivia" he immediately notices that it is initialed M.O.I.A. He acknowledges that they are not his initials, however, he forces himself to believe that the initials M.O.I.A. are his, but jumbled up like a puzzle. By creating the illusion that they initials are his, he becomes the puppeteer and the prisoners. He has created a the shadow of hope, and has accepted it. The false reality placed before him is like a dream come true, but it is about to become a hellish nightmare.


MRS. CHEVELEY. [Detains him by touching his arm with her fan, and keeping it there while she is talking.] I realise that I am talking to a man who laid the foundation of his fortune by selling to a Stock Exchange speculator a Cabinet secret.

SIR ROBERT CHILTERN. [Biting his lip.] What do you mean?

MRS. CHEVELEY. [Rising and facing him.] I mean that I know the real origin of your wealth and your career, and I have got your letter, too.

SIR ROBERT CHILTERN. What letter?

MRS. CHEVELEY. [Contemptuously.] The letter you wrote to Baron Arnheim, when you were Lord Radley's secretary, telling the Baron to buy Suez Canal shares - a letter written three days before the Government announced its own purchase. (Oscar Wilde, An Ideal Husband pg. 15)

Robert Chiltern has been living his life as the puppeteer. Ever since he traded a Cabinet secret to a stock exchange speculator, he has been living as though he made his fortune through hard work. The shadow's he placed before everyone else was quite effective in creating a false reality for the chained prisoners, especially his wife.

Stanley: This is after the home-place had slipped through her lily-white fingers! She moved to the Flamingo A second-class hotel which has the advantage of not interfering in the private social life of the personalities there! The Flamingo is use to all kinds of going-ons. But even the management of the Flamingo was impressed by Dame Blanche! In fact they were so impressed by Dame Blanche that they requested her to turn in her room-key-for permanently! This happened a couple of weeks before she showed here. (Tennessee Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire pg. 99)

Stanley reveals to the reader that Blanche has been portraying a false truth to everyone. Her past life has caught up to her through Stanley's noseyness...Stanley has become the enlightened prisoner. He has seen the truth (Blanche's past) and has returned to the prisoners in the cave and is attempting to tell them of their deceive'd reality.

"I have invented an invaluable permanent invalid called Bunbury, in order that I may be able to go down into the country whenever I choose." (Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest)

Algy reveals to the reader that he has a false identity that he uses whenever he goes down to the country. To the people in the country, they know him only as Bunbury. They are seeing his shadow of truth, his false reality.

"Can I just let myself forget what you've told me? Can I just let myself forget what you made me do?" (Memento)

Lenny is creating his own reality. By forgetting the truth that Teddy just told him, he portrays a false reality to himself in the form of false information which is then seen by everyone else he meets. Because of his condition, he won't be able to tell whether it is the truth or just a creation of his own deception.

"I give it to you not that you may remember time, but that you might forget it now and then for a moment and not spend all your breath trying to conquer it. Because no battle is ever won he said. They are not even fought. The field only reveals to man his own folly and despair, and victory is an illusion of philosophers and fools." (The Sound and the Fury)

When Quentin receives the watch from his father, he is reminded that life is better when time is forgotten than when it is a constant reminder. The note also mentions victory being an illusion. There are no winners in the game of life, there are only those who live with in the past, and those who move on. Quentin is stuck in the past and can not move forward.

Kelekian: "You must be very tough. Do you think you can be very tough?"

Dr. Kelekian has just told Vivian that she has cancer. Advance metastatic ovarian cancer in stage 4. She is about to go on chemotherapy and is being told to be "tough." She is told that there will be side effects but not of their severity. Kelekian's shadow is a false representation of what Vivian is about to go through. Though she is told it will be hard, she isn't told how hard, thus creating a false reality for Vivian. She may be expecting side effects that aren't as severe as they inevitably will be.

" 'Our baby was a boy,' he said. 'his skin was more red than brown. He had black hair on his head. He weighed almost five pounds. His fingers were curled shut, just like yours in the night.' "(Interpreter of Maladies)

Shukumar has been casting a shadow on Shoba since their baby died. Shukumar has never told his wife that he had seen the baby and Shoba has never thought of such a thing.

Truth vs. Reality

"To [the people in the cave], the truth would be literally nothing but the shadow of the images." In the world today, people are being governed by the puppeteers of the modern day. The chained are just pawns in their scheme to prevent the truth from being revealed. Examples of this can be seen in China's media. In the past years it has surfaced that there is a censoring issue in China. An example of this is the monumental figure of freedom, the Tank Man. Whenever a user from the United States or any country other than China searches for the Tank Man on Google images or some other search engine, they come up with this influential picture:



In China, the government has created a full censorship of the public's media. Whenever a user searches Tank Man on Google china, there will be no such image. Because it is such an influential image or freedom and lack of government control, the image is blocked to prevent anyone from viewing it. To refer to the Allegory of a Cave, the Chinese people are seeing nothing but shadows of the truth. The truth is hidden behind a sheet of lies generated by the government. They are chained down in a cave of lies and deception. "But is not the deception more freedom for them?" (Sñr. Marquez) There are "enlightened" individuals in the society too. Some Chinese citizens have set up radio stations and video channels that project the truth about current happenings in the world.

Through the deception and the projection of shadows the Chinese people have found ways to become enlightened and spread their knowledge to the rest of their people.

Insight Needed

Welcome welcome! I am sitting and I'm typing words...AT THE SAME TIME!!!!
Any theories on how this may be possible? All posts are welcome!