THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX

Both Plato and Sartre use conversations to describe the complex theme of how people go from ignorance to understanding.  Plato's conversations involve onlookers of the situation, while Sartre uses the observations and actions of people directly involved with illustrating the theme.  To best describe the limitations of our thinking both of the authors use stories.  In Plato's allegory, the characters, or the prisoners in the cave travel from a place of limited thinking to a place of enlightenment.  The same occurs in Sartre's "No Exit," except that the characters undergo mental traveling from ignorance to enlightenment, rather than physical traveling.  Lastly, the solutions to obtain knowledge from ignorance differ between the two authors.  In Plato's allegory, a person's enlightenment is only obtained by their own devices, no matter how much others try to explain things to them.  In Sartre's play, however, the character's become enlightened to how they are going to be tortured by interacting with the people around them.  Basically, Plato claims that knowledge and enlightenment is obtained internally, while Sartre claims that it is facilitated externally.