The Search for Truth in Plato's Allegory of the Cave and Anderson's Winesburg, OhioSherwood Anderson's novel Winesburg, Ohio features many themes that present themselves throughout the book. One of these recurring themes is the search for truth. The characters in the book do not fully realize that they are seeking the truth, but they feel a vague "indescribable thing" that nudges and prods their minds to actualize a higher plane of thought. This search for a higher plane by Winesburg's characters almost parallels another literary work of ancient Greek origin: Plato's "Allegory of the Cave", which is a part of his famous work "The Republic". I argue that the town of Winesburg is the equivalent of the Cave in Plato's writings. The “Allegory of the Cave” is Plato’s attempt to relate his thoughts and philosophy on human civilization in common terms. He believed that there are two planes of existence: the material world of the senses and a higher world of thoughts and ideals. Plato's "Allegory" allowed people to more firmly grasp a somewhat abstract concept. The “Allegory” depicts a number of people imprisoned in a cave, chained by the legs and neck so that they cannot move or turn around. their heads; they only see toward the back wall opposite the cave opening. These people have been chained this way their entire lives. Sometimes objects and people pass by the opening of the cave and shadows play on the far wall. Since people have only seen the shadows, they assume that the shadows are the true objects and beings in the world. They observe the shadows, measure them, try to understand them, and soon honors are bestowed on those who can see middle of paper... ld (the cave) leads to qualities which are the antithesis of goodness, to know hatred. I believe that drawing parallels between Winesburg, Ohio and the "Allegory of the Cave" helps to better understand how the human race has struggled with the problem of finding ways to act upon the higher ideals that reside in the character of the 'humanity. Perhaps realizing that man has thought about this problem for thousands and thousands of years, from the time of the ancient Greeks to the early 20th century to the present, can help civilization human being to see the higher plane of existence, of which Plato says he is the “author”. of all things beautiful and just. » Works cited: Anderson, Sherwood. Winesburg, Ohio. New York, NY: Penguin Books Ltd., 1993. Plato. Allegory of the Cave. in Norton Reader. Linda H. Peterson et al., eds. New York: W. W. Norton, 2000.