In the Allegory of the Cave Socrates

In class we discussed the section in the book on page 153. The quote is towards the top of the page and states, "Knowing the truth about the vanishing did not lessen their opinion of Bilbo at all; for they saw that he had some wits as well as luck and a magic ring-and all three are very useful possessions. By first assumption one would think that the single word "wits" would have something to do with witty or clever, considering Bilbo was supposed to be a burglar, but after looking it up within the online Oxford English Dictionary it can be seen that it originally meant "to see." And we know that the magical ring Bilbo steals has the power to make one invisible. This is very interesting having this idea of the seeing versus unseeing. Taking it a step further it can be closely resembled to Plato's Allegory of the Cave.

In the Allegory of the Cave Socrates puts into perspective the idea of viewing reality. He views a group of people chained to the wall and only being able to view a blank wall. Every now and then someone behind them would project a shadow figure with the fire that is behind them. These people are "blinded" from reality because the shadows they see each day are the only things they are able to truly believe. One of the prisoners escapes and is able to see actual reality and understand that the shadows on the wall are not all there is to the world. He is the one who can perceive the true form of reality, which in turn can make the freed prisoner "seeing" as in seeing the truth of knowledge about the world.

If we take what I said earlier on page 153 it is easy to see the resemblance of knowledge being portrayed. Bilbo uses the magical ring of invisibility to help make himself aware of his surroundings and being able to free the other dwarves from dying. Without the ring Bilbo would have been captured the same way the others were. He was able to step outside the norm the other dwarves were used to and all that they knew in order to continue with their path of life. The dwarves could be seen as the prisoners blinded by the knowledge of how to escape and save their own lives as well as one another.

Another example where Plato's Allegory of the