Being There by Jerzy Kosinski Essay - 1606 Words

In his novel Being There, Jerzy Kosinski shows how present day culture has strayed away from the ideal society that Plato describes in his allegory of the cave. In his metaphor, Plato describes the different stages of life and education through the use of a cave. In the first level of the cave, Plato describes prisoners who are shackled and facing a blank wall. Behind them is a wall of fire with a partition that various objects are placed and manipulated by another group of people. These shadows are the only action that they ever see. They can only talk to the surrounding prisoners, and watch the puppet show on the wall in front of them. Naturally, the prisoners come to believe that the shadows on the wall in front of them are†¦show more content†¦He knows gardening, and knows it very well. He has his own room in the Old Mans house, and is not permitted to leave, or have any visitors. The only connection to the outside world is his TV that he watches constantly. He cannot read or write, and knows little about the world he lives in. Much like the prisoners in the cave, he is a prisoner in the house, only gaining knowledge from the shadows that moved within his TV. His lack of social skills becomes much more apparent once he leaves the house for the first time. He has no intended destination, and wanders the streets. Once he is hurt by the limousine, he is given an injection to ease his pain. As the doctor fills the needle, he wants to show fear, not because he has had this experience before, but because he visualized all the TV incidents in which he had seen injections being given (Kosinski 33). Just like the prisoners in the cave, he was trying to understand a reality based on pictures in order to react to the world around him. One thing that he has never experienced is any type of a sex life. He found himself in a room with EE, where she made a sexual advance towards him. He thought back to a situation on TV where he could imitate an a ctor in a similar scene. He remembers a close embrace and kissing, but unfortunatelyShow MoreRelatedThe Painted Bird: The Monster that Lives in Us All Essay1194 Words   |  5 PagesJerzy Kosinski reveals the barbaric acts of civilians in times of war, showing how war changes our sheer humanity. Passed from village to village, he tells the tale of a small gypsy boy wandering without parents during World War II. The horrific tales of the people who took him in, paint a cruel picture of civilization. Was Jerzy Kosinski take on humanity realistic or erroneous? In the first couple weeks of World War II, a six-year-old boy from Eastern Europe was sent to a distant village by hisRead MoreThe Painted Bird Analysis1505 Words   |  7 PagesThe Painted Bird, written by Jerzy Kosinski, follows the perspective of a young boy throughout World War II. 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