"The Allegory of the Cave" and Hero Cycle Comparison

       “The Allegory of the Cave,” written by Plato, can be directly connected to certain steps of the hero cycle, especially the norm step. The hero cycle is a series of steps a hero goes through in order to grow. This applies amongst all cultures and their stories. One stage in particular, the norm, is strongly reflected in Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave”. The Norm is the life the hero has before his call to action. It is where he is immature, unknowledgeable, and ego-driven. In “The Allegory of the Cave,” prisoners who have lived in the cave since birth are chained at the neck and their legs so movement is impossible. They can only see in front of them, which is a flat wall with shadows, from above, being casted down upon it.  Plato describes the life and home the prisoner in “The Allegory of the Cave” as follows: “Behold! Human beings living in an underground den, which has a mouth open toward the light and reaching all along the den. Here they have been from their childhood, and have their legs and necks chained so that they cannot move, and can only see before them, being prevented by the chains from turning round their heads. Above and behind them a fire is blazing at a distance, and between the fire and the prisoners there is a raised way, and you will see, if you look, a low wall built along the way, like the screen which marionette players have in front of them, over which they show puppets” (Plato 5). This quote describes in full detail the life the prisoners have. They live without physical interaction, just staring blankly at a wall as shadows move across it. This quote shows that this point in the allegory is the norm stage when applied to the hero cycle. This is the place the hero came from, his life before he are called to action. This is where he was oblivious to the real world or in the sense of the hero cycle, the other world he must master. The prisoner, at this point, does not know that the shadows are not the object itself, rather he must learn this. In this stage of the hero cycle the hero only knows the world he is in now. The norm of “The Allegory of the Cave” is the cave in which the prisoner is imprisoned.