Thinking Outside the Box

The "Allegory of the Cave" and "No Exit" demonstrate two very distinct ways of viewing the same concept. The "Allegory of the Cave" intends to show how humans can be their own saviors. Instead of waiting for salvation one can simply be his or her won salvation. The prisoner walked out of the cave in an effort to be enlightened but at the time he did not know this would be the outcome. He struggled to adapt to the light but after he did he was open to a new world that had always existed but he had been deprived of. He was his own savior and was able to escape "Hell." In "No Exit" there is also the idea of salvation but at a different level. In "No Exit" there is no salvation hence the name. Here Sartre creates an actual Hell in which three sinners find themselves. They do not seem to understand their situation at fist but soon enough they realize it is worse than what they thought it would be. They were expecting fire, torture, the works but what they found was much worse. They became their own punishment and there was no escaping themselves, obviously. They saw how hateful of humans they were because they saw themselves reflected in the people they were grouped with. All of the "Allegory of the Cave" is one big metaphor. It seems to be an even greater metaphor than "No Exit." Hell is created and shown as a character in both works of literature but in different ways.