Final exam( to answer question) - Essay Example

For example, students need to be given time, not as a constraint, but as a gift in a supportive place where they can explore what they want with the assistance of the teacher. 2. Discuss what you take to be the relevance of Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” to our understanding of freedom. In the allegory of the cave, Socrates describes a group of prisoners chained to the walls watching shadows of people walking behind them and making them to be whatever they want them to be. They are not aware of anything else except what they think is their reality.

One day one of the prisoners is released and he realizes what he thought was reality was just his own mind ideas which they were made to believe in (Plato). This story is relevant to our understanding of freedom in current society. When we see too much of something we believe that is the reality when it is really not. We believe in what we see and we are being controlled by the government, media and politicians and we think what they tell us is true because we don’t know the truth. At times, the caves we are in are controlled by our parents (Plato).

They have the power to control where we hang out, what to watch on TV and even what time to go to bed. 3. Discuss the relevance of the Genesis creation story (the first three chapters only) to our understanding of freedom We as humans, too often long to be free of restrictions and limits, free to choose our own way with no consequences. We simply do not like boundaries. The first couples (Adam and eve) were lured by the promise of absolute freedom, as such; they would have no boundaries except those of their own making.

The promise was empty and false, a product of human selfishness and a destructive desire for independence and autonomy. We learn still more about ourselves. We all want absolute freedom without restrictions For instance, a child is concerned with nothing else than having its immediate needs met. 4. Explain how the theme of fear functions in J.M. Coetzee’s allegorical novel Waiting for the Barbarians The imprisonment of the barbarians indicates a sense of colonization and discrimination. This renders them to live a worthless life and always full of fear.

The example from the story, of a powerful barbarian, exemplifies a scenario where a position of authority cannot deliver from the bondage of slavery. Coetzee’s allegory of empire represents an empire full of poor use and delegation of power (McCarthy 8). Power is useful when it is used to lead and direct people to do the right things in the right way. Power is misused when people get mistreated and they suffer, yet others enjoy power. The scenario of power from barbarian point of view demonstrates how those ruling, although with all the ability to rule itself, can still guide a colonized society, negatively. 5. Explain George Orwell’s argument about the uses and abuses of language in his essay “Politics and the English Language.

” Be sure to note Orwell’s critique of political language, what he thinks the consequences of poor language are, and his