"Thinking Outside the Box"

      Plato and Sartre both characterize our thinking as something that can be manipulated and altered with the encounter of different things. In "The Allegory of the Cave", people's limitations are controlled by their "closed mind", this is represented by the shackles that the people are burdened with (or are they). Then Plato implies that in order to escape the shackles one must want to do so. The characters in Plato's allegory have settled for what they have, and really have no determination to step outside of the box; in this case, the shackles. In "No Exit," we see the experiences of three people in hell. These people don't come to the terms of being in hell because their expectations of hell are much different than what they are truly experiencing. They subconsciously decide not to help each other figure out what is going on with them, they are to stubborn. Instead they create a new personal hell, and begin torturing each other. These stories are similar in their characters struggles as well as their authors use of mood, diction, and metaphors. The characters in both are unable or unwilling to figure out their problems and reach out into new possibilities and knowledge to free themselves from their restraints or a so called hell.

     Sartres' use of mood directly coincides with Plato's use. In both writings the two great thinkers portray the mood through their characters minds.  The character's all are in the mind set that they can't reach out to things beyond what they see.  Sartre's character's don't question why they are where they are and Plato's character's don't particularly want to make the effort to escape where they are. The shackles "aren't too bad" so they let their minds settle for something so simple, like the shadows.  While the people's in Plato's are to stuck in the "norm", Sartre's characters can't accept anything the other is saying there fore they wrap themselves up in a personal hell that they cannot escape.
    The diction in each of the writings are both very sophisticated.  This adds to the in depth meaning that both are trying to portray. The words in each of the works, to me, make the story what it is today.  The intense word choice and placement gives the pieces more meaning to me.
    In "No Exit", the characters themselves represent the shackles that obstruct one's thinking or actions, meaning your mind or thoughts can be controlled by outside forces such as other people. These characters are limited with their thinking because of isolation and also by what they are told. The characters need to look beyond what others think and define themselves by what they think.