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Plato’s Allegory of the Cave

Regret by Kate Chopin

The story is about Mamzelle Aurelle, a fifty year old. Despite her old age, she is still single

having turned down a proposal at the tender age of twenty, she chooses to stay single. Marriage

and love seemed to be sinister ideas to her world. Mamzelle Aurelle closest companion in her

life is Ponto, an amazing dog that never leaves her side. In her farm, there are Negroes who work

in her garden. Odile, her young neighbor visits Mamzelle Aurelle one day with a rather

unthinkable request to Mamzelle Aurelle. She wants to leave her for kids Elodie, Ti Nomme,

Marceline and Marcellete to Mamzelle Aurelle, who has never had the slightest of experience of

taking care of kids. Odile has to visit her ailing mother in Texas and taking her kids along is not

an option. The youngest of the kids is style a toddler, something that disgusts Mamzelle Aurelle.

Mamzelle Aurelle has the roughest week in her life dealing with the challenge of dealing with

kids.

Plato’s allegory of the cave presented in Mamzelle Aurelle story has similarity. Her character is

in the story of loneliness and emptiness leaves her vulnerable from the outside world. The

emotions and feelings of passion that are brought about by the presence of the four kids show the

reality. The question of whether her life of emptiness blurs her vision of the real and the shadows

as shown by the prisoners in Plato’s cave is disputable. Plato’s allegory is a story about the

prisoners chained in a cave all their lives. The shadows they perceive are the closest reality

presented in their minds. Plato argues that their minds have been conditioned to the small cave,
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and that is the reality to them. Mamzelle Aurelle choice not to engage in marriage is the reason

she regrets later in life. Mamzelle Aurelle’s singlehood is the very contribution of meaning of the

story by Kate Chopin.

Mamzelle Aurelle is the protagonist in this story. Conflict is brought out between Mamzelle

Aurelle and her inner self. The true purpose of companionship is realized in her life by the

presence of Odile’s children. Mamzelle Aurelle realizes just what she, and this makes her cry

like a man. Crying like a man symbolizes pain in her heart.

Mamzelle Aurelle story presents the thematic meaning of conflict in one’s self-life; regret is a

foreshadowing that readers expect at the beginning of the story. The moral of the story is the

bumper sticker and what we learn from Mamzelle Aurelle character. The bumper sticker can be

‘make the right choices that you will never regret.'

A city by churches by Donald Barthelme

Point of View

The story, a city by churches, is one created in a small town; Prestor, that is in complete isolation

in some hidden corner of the world. Cecilia is a lady who has just visited the town with great

ambitions of succeeding in this rather ‘God forsaken town’ with her car rental business. Mr.

Phillips is her tour guide who shows her around the city. Cecilia is astounded by the presence of

churches everywhere in Prestor. It is not normal to her world as Mr. Phillips explains that the
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town is very religious. Cecilia’s point of view on the town is terrifying and scary making her

fears the idea that she will ever reside in Prestor. Mr. Phillips explains that the only homes that

will be available to accommodate her are the church’s basement or the bell tower.

Cecilia comes to this town hoping to succeed, a point of view from the outside world. Mr.

Phillips point of view that Cecilia’s car rental enterprise will not succeed and of Cecilia is

questionable character when she talks about intimacy instead of religion. Mr. Phillips point of

view of Cecilia’s unreligious presents conflicts between the two and their beliefs. Cecilia’s point

of view about Prestor and its old-fashioned buildings and its people presents the conflict within

Cecilia. Cecilia is not religious and her she arrives in a religious town, this is absurd and

unexpected for her idea of Prestor. She wonders if the town will be a good fit for her and if she

can live in Prestor. The resolution in the story is when Cecilia’s point of view finally transforms

at the end of the story; she accepts the reality and is even upbeat about making it in Prestor. The

points of view between Cecilia and Mr. Phillips about life are a total contradiction.

The thematic meaning of religion is brought out in the story as the never center of Prestor.

Religion is misused in the story by the fact that people reside in churches. The misused essence

of religion in the story is presented. Cecilia’s point of view is that the religion in this town is

superficial and unreal. The relevance of the story is about one’s determination; Cecilia was

determined to make it in this town despite the many oddities it presented. Initially, she wonders

if she will ever fit in this kind of life.

Girl by Jamaica Kincaid

Setting

The story by Jamaica Kincaid; Girl set in a conservative society. The Caribbean resemblance in

the characters is often brought out in this story. The mother of the girl uses the harsh word girl to

scold her teenage daughter. The mother is seen to be overprotective of her daughter who has

started a trend that her mother does not like. The characters of the story come from a

conservative community where the girl child and a woman are expected to do certain things.

Cooking, washing and cleaning are her duties; the society’s view of what a girl should and

should not do is limited. The girl as presented with the reality that she is not a boy, and she needs

to do things required of her.

The conflict is present on her mothers predetermined future that she assumes for the girl. The

mother wants the daughter to start doing things that are required of her before her time yet the

daughter is a silent character in the story, who does not participate so much, unlike her active

mother. Sexuality and promiscuity is majored and referred to heavily in the story. The mother’s

greatest fears are her daughter getting into the life of promiscuity and sexuality. With no doubt,

the society in the setting of the story does not embrace promiscuity, but the fact that promiscuity

mentioned leads to the conclusion that it exists in this particular community.

The story explores about the role of the girl in society. Society dictates about how we perceive

the girl and the set of things that we expect from the women in our lives. The ideas about
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personality and character are also put forward as the mother wants her daughter to dress and

learn responsibility in life.