Compare/Contrast- Critical Analysis

Critical Analysis

In the “Allegory of the Cave,” Plato emphasizes the need for human beings to ‘turn the body.’ He describes the soul as the engine that drives the human body or nature to its destined goals. Plato describes the soul as having three moving parts that govern where the human being is destined to reach, and they include reason, spirit, and appetite (Williams, 2015). These three, when combined, bring a sort of conflict for human beings in terms of making decisions and attaining their goals and ambitions. The act of reason is driven by the awareness of a certain goal or expected value in it. After having the reason for focusing on a certain goal, the spirit is seen as the drive towards the goal in question but is, however, prone to interference based on different factors like lust and desires. Finally, the appetite entails the desires that the body yearns and seeks to fulfill (Williams, 2015). Therefore, will all these three elements in action that ultimately interfere with the function of the soul, Plato advocates for the human being to focus on the ultimate goal and standing firm to curb any appetites that may interfere with the spirit, ultimately deviating from the intended reason. Thus, turning the body is crucial towards reaching the intended goals by shunning the bodily desires and remaining in focus hence promoting the spirit to stay in the right course.

Human beings are constantly faced with the challenge of turning the body. As seen above, turning the body entails striving to attain the goals of the soul and shun various barriers like the desires of the flesh. I am also not an exception to this phenomenon, having had my fair share of reason to ‘turn my body.’ During my freshman year, I joined with a solid and considerable GPA and had a vision and mission of getting into medical school and becoming a successful surgeon. Like any other new and confused freshman, I ventured into the world of adventure, girls, and alcohol and often found pleasure and escape from the immense pressure of retaining the goal of being a surgeon. After some considerable poor grades that had my faculty advisor worried, I realized that I was on the wrong path towards achieving my dreams. Therefore, I vowed to change my ways to appease the flesh and returning to focusing on my books, attending classes, and being on top of my assignments. This change, albeit ‘turning the body,’ enabled me to see the original purpose of my soul and re-realizing the goal of being a successful surgeon.

In “Living Like Weasels,” Annie Dillard reflects on her first encounter with a Weasel and is amazed by the way the Weasel lives its life by describing how it stalks rabbits, mice, and muskrats, more bodies than it can even finish. She is also amazed about the place of the encounter in which she labels ‘a remarkable piece of shallowness’. The place where the Weasel dwells and how it kills its prey anyhow makes Dillard envy how they embrace the theme of freedom. She urges human beings to live like Weasels and embrace freedom by not being concerned about how they achieve their goals (their ultimate necessity) or the means and ways that they achieve them. In comparison, Plato in ‘The Allegory of the Cave” also advocates the need for human beings to focus on their ultimate goals and avoid any destructions that may arise in their pursuit (Plato, 2017). He acknowledges that there may be destructions along the way but emphasizes that humans need to be vigilant and stay focused on their goals. However, the contrast between the themes by Dillard and Plato is that Dillard advises people to do what they want and live freely as they focus on their ambitions. For Plato, he advises people to live a morally uptight life, disregarding the desires of the flesh and stay focused on their ultimate destination.

References

Dillard, A. (1982). Living like weasels. One Hundred Great Essays.

Plato, B. (2017). Allegory of the Cave. Enhanced media publishing.

Williams, T. (2015). A streetcar named desire. Bloomsbury Publishing.