His next assignment is to expand the essay with biographical details about the author, so stay tuned for part deux!
Is Perception Reality?
Reality by definition is the quality or state of being
real. (Merriam-Webster.com) However, there are many things that can differ and
make us question whether the reality that we perceive is real or not. Plato’s
“Allegory of The Cave” addresses this paradox. In it, three prisoners in a cave
have been chained facing a wall all their lives. Behind them is a fire, and
between the fire and them is a walkway where people carrying various objects
and statues pass by. As a result of the fire, passersby cast shadows onto the
wall the prisoners are facing. The prisoners, in their ignorance, believe that
this is reality. Not the figures that make the shadows, but the shadows
themselves.
One day, one of the slaves is unchained and is released to the
outside world. His eyes hurt from the sun’s blinding light, in which the world
around them is illuminated. Over time, his eyes adjust and he observes the
environment around himself. Thereafter, he becomes enlightened. What was
perceived to be real, such as the shadowy images on the cave wall, were all an
illusion. He now sees their actual forms. The prisoner goes back to the cave
where he was held, where now he is not used to the once comforting darkness. He
tries to share his knowledge and enlightenment of what he has learned. However,
the other prisoners do not want to believe him. They mock him and proceed to be
violent with him.
Plato originally used this story to portray what is it like to be
a philosopher trying to educate the common person or masses. Some people find
comfort in their ignorance and become hostile to anyone who questions it or
points it out. Reality is all based on perception, what we can see, hear and
feel. We can compose thoughts and ideas from and about our sensory perceptions.
But what if what we see, hear, and feel is false? Is it still reality? In the
story “All Over,” the nineteenth century French author Guy De Maupassant
provides another example of this paradox with the main character Lormerin and
how he perceives his reality.
At the beginning of the story, Lormerin is a narcissistic, retired
bachelor. He is so self-centered that, upon glancing at himself in a mirror, he
sees a middle-aged, handsome and tall man. He smiles and shouts, “Lormerin is
still alive!”(Maupassant 1) He later receives a letter from Lise, his old
lover. In the letter, she explains that it has been over two decades since they
have last met. Lise writes that she’s old now and that she’s been a widow for
five years (Maupassant 2). She goes on to talk about her daughter whom Lormerin
has never seen, and sarcastically mentions that he did not care when she told
him of her birth.
When he gets Lise’s letter, Lormerin feels a surge of emotion and
starts reminiscing about the old days of their love. He remembers little
intricate details about her look, smell and the way she called him Jaquelet. He
recalls how short-lived their love affair was. Despite the fact that he has had
multiple women over the years, he has still kept a spot for her in his heart.
He decides to accept Lise’s invitation to dine that night.
Afterwards he looks in the mirror again and thinks that she must look very old
and feels “gratified at the thought of showing himself to her still handsome,
still fresh, of astonishing her, perhaps of filling her with emotion.”
(Maupassant 4). He then promptly got ready and made sure he put effort into
what he wore.
Upon his arrival at Lise’s residence he notices a portrait of
himself on the wall from when he was a young man. Although he does not react to
it, this is when Lise starts to free him from his ego. By hanging up such an
old portrait, she is starting to shed light on the reality of his age. From
this point on, Lise continues to be the sun in the cave of his lonely life,
exposing the reality of his ignorance of the passage of time.
When he first sees Lise, he embraces her hands. At a closer
glance, he is surprised that her appearance is of “an old lady whom he did not
recognize.” (Maupassant 4). He then asks “Is it you, Lise?” After a brief
conversation Lise mentions that she was afraid that she would feel something
upon seeing Lormerin for the first time in years, but she says, “Now it is all
over; it is past.” (Maupassant 4). By saying this Lise sheds even more light on
reality by showing that she has moved on from past feelings and that she’s
matured since then. Lormerin, on the other hand, is a little disoriented. His
reality is starting to dissolve before his eyes.
Now Lise’s young daughter Renee enters the room, and Lormerin
“remained bewildered as at the sight of an apparition.” (Maupassant 7) At that
moment Lormerin thinks to himself that this is the real Lise. He starts to feel
the same passion he felt twenty-five years ago. Next he looks at them both, and
this is where he begins to question reality. He asks, “Which is the real one?”
(Maupassant 7)
For the rest of the dinner Lormerin has become so disoriented that
Lise notices and says, “You have lost your old vivacity, my poor friend.”
(Maupassant 8) Once again she illuminates the false reality that he is living
in, in which he imagines he’s still young. But he is still stubborn and still
feels passion for Renee and perceives her as the real Lise.
Finally Lormerin went home, still reflecting on what happened at
dinner. Once again Lormerin sees his reflection in the same mirror from the
beginning of the story. This time he sees the reality of what Lise was trying
to shed light on: “he saw reflected there an elderly, gray-haired old man.”
This is just as painful as the blinding sunlight was to the prisoner in
“Allegory of the Cave.” With this, Lormerin is now a broken old man who can’t
bear the reality of time and how it has aged him.
This story made me think about the way that perception can often
fool us. When you look at someone, you might perceive them as happy but in
reality they are sad. Sometimes the truth hurts. I don’t believe Lise really
wanted to hurt Lormerin. She only wanted him to stop seeing shadows of his former
self.
Works Cited
Plato, “The Allegory
of the Cave.”, Translator: Benjamin Joewett , Published in 1988.
Alber, Henry Rene Guy De
Maupassant. “All Over.” Translators: Albert M.C. McMaster, A.E.
Henderson, Mme Quesada, & other. E-texts.
