plato study questions

1. I was a little confused as to what it means to Socrates, but what I got from The Allegory of the Cave was that society refuses to see a lot of their surroundings. Being stuck in the cave and then being told that there is so much more to be explored in the world seems to ruin their picture perfect image of what they have already adapted their minds to. Just spitballin here.
2. The shadows against the darkness were what caught my attention as imagery. The shadows represented a sign of imagination to the prisoners in the cave. They could imagine all they wanted, but the fact that they couldn't imagine much beyond that wall and those shadows in the darkness got me to thinking, how could you live without having curiosity eating away at you as to what is outside of that cave?
3. The allegory suggests how important enlightenment is, and how crucial exploration is to discovery in our society. Too many people disregard the possibility of exploring beyond what they already know because "it's too hard" or "we already understand enough". There is no limit to what is to be discovered.
4. The shackles used in the cave are an example of the lives of the dwellers. They aren't given a chance to understand more of what is hidden out there, therefore they don't want to. Their lives go as far as the cave walls.
5. School shackles the mind, in a way. That was the first thing that came to mind, to me. Every day I get up to get dressed and ready to repeat exactly what I did the previous day. It is like my cave wall. How am I ever going to get a chance to explore if I have this "shackle" forced on me every day for my whole childhood?
6. The freed prisoner was bewildered at what he was missing out on, and when he told the prisoners who hadn't yet seen anything besides the cave, they called him crazy, and that it would ruin their image that they have created for themselves their whole lives. The freed prisoner's mind was set free to roam as well.
8. Prisoners get freed by the exposure to a new world. They could be free to roam around the cave, and still wouldn't understand what freedom really is.
9. The allegory presupposes that there is a distinction between appearances and reality because not everything is what it seems to be. Through this computer I could appear to be a really smart person who has a way with words, but really, I have a thesaurus. Don't judge me. I know these words, I just can't remember them all the time ok.
10. See, I'm not smart. I don't understand what the heck this question is asking me.

There could be alternate realities. The truth is what we think the truth is, and there are so many truths beyond just the one that you think.