Across Unknown Borders Essays - Allegory, Allegory Of The Cave

Across Unknown Borders Essays - Allegory, Allegory Of The Cave Across Unknown Borders " W e can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light." -Plato North Koreans know of nothing other than their strenuous lives under a tyrannical dictator with barely enough food to get them through the day . Most North Koreans go their entire live s unaware of the outside world, though there are some who still find out about it . Once someone becomes aware that there is a life outside the prison of North Korea, one must then make the crucial decision of whether or not they want to try and escape living under a corrupt government , even though they risk being thrown into a brutal labor camp . Yeonmi Park, author of In Order to Live: A North Korean Girl's Journey to Freedom , disregarded the risks due to necessity when she and her mother crossed over the Tumen River and into China. Although not all situations are the same, attempting to escape North Korea is ultimately worth the risk of severe punishme nt threatened by the government because the risk of being caught is wor th the reward of being free . Plato's Allegory of the Cave examines the transition between naive captivity and freedom in the outside world. The prisoners are perpetually stuck in a cave ; chained to benches, unable to turn around for their entire lives . The only thing these people are able to se e are shadows on the wall in front them due to a "great bonfire" (Gerber) lit behind them, as well a different group of people standing between the fi re and the group of people. The second group of people serve as "puppeteers " (Gerber) , and create different shadows, which project onto the wall in front of the chained group. Those shadows are the only experience with the outside world the chained group have in their entire life. Due to the fact that this is the only visual experience these people have ever encountered, it is also how their "society" builds. If someone can figure out what the shadows represent quickly, they are considered more "elite" than the others or and if someone "judge [s] poorly or take [s] a long time to recognize the shad ows " (Gerber) , they are considered on the lower level of the social hierarchy. In North Korea, the people are metaphorically born chained to a bench a nd shadows are all they can see (Lee) . The bench is to North Korea as the shadows are to communist propaganda: North Koreans are stuck in their country, unable to leave and the only life they know is that of. Being able to tell what the shadows are quickly represents dedication to Kim Jong-Un and the North Korean dictatorship, while not being able to see what they represent, or not being able to tell quickly, represents those who are not completely brainwashed and have doubts about the tyrannical government of North Korea. Now, imagine that one of the prisoners finds out about the world behind him . He will do anything he can to escape, even though he knows no thing other than the cave wall (Gerbe r). The thirst for freedom is and will always be much stronger than the subconscious desire to follow the "rules" that people have lived by their entire lives. Just as the prisoners must escape their chains, North Koreans must escape their prison of a country. In June of 1950 , North Korea first invaded South Korea in what later became known as the Korean War. The Korean War was a major factor that lead to the downfall of the economy and ultimately the starvation of a vast number of Koreans. Kim Il-Sung, the dictator at the time, wanted to start a war with South Korea because he wanted to be the dictator of Korea as an entirety. Kim Il-Sung sent his troops deep into South Korea and "invaded SouthKoreawith the intention of reunif ying the nation under communism " (Axlerod Par. 3 ) , but around 1953, both countries stopped fighting and signed a peace treaty. They then