The search for truth in Plato's Allegory of the Cave and Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio The novel Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson has many themes that present throughout the book. One of these recurring themes is the search for truth. The characters in the book do not fully realize that they are seeking the truth, but they feel a vague, "indescribable thing" that pushes and stimulates their minds to actualize a higher plane of thought. This search for a higher plane by the characters of Winesburg is almost parallel to another literary work of ancient Greek origin: Plato's "Allegory of the Cave", which is a part of his famous writing "The Republic". I argue that the town of Winesburg is the equivalent of the Cave in Plato's writings. The “Allegory of the Cave” is Plato's attempt to relate his thoughts and philosophy about human civilization in common terms. He believed that there were two planes of existence: the material world of the senses and a higher world of thoughts and ideals. Plato's "Allegory" allowed people to grasp a somewhat abstract concept more firmly. The "Allegory" depicts a number of people who are imprisoned in a cave, chained by their legs and necks so that they cannot move, nor can they turn. their heads; they only see towards the back wall, opposite the opening of the cave. These people have been chained like this their entire lives. Sometimes objects and people pass in front of the opening of the cave and shadows play on the back wall. Since people have only seen shadows, they assume that shadows are the real objects and beings in the world. They observe the shadows, measure them, try to understand them, and soon honors are bestowed on those people who can see... the middle of the paper... ld (the cave) leads to qualities that are the antithesis of goodness, worth to say hate. I believe that drawing parallels between Winesburg, Ohio and the "Allegory of the Cave" helps provide insight into how the human race has wrestled with the problem of finding ways to act upon the highest ideals that reside in the character of humanity. Perhaps realizing that Man has contemplated this problem for thousands and thousands of years, from the time of the ancient Greeks to the early 20th century to the present, can help human civilization see the higher plane of existence, which Plato defines being the "author of all things beautiful and just." Works Cited: Anderson, Sherwood. Winesburg, Ohio. New York, NY: Penguin Books Ltd., 1993. Plato. Allegory of the Cave. in Norton Reader. Linda H. Peterson et al., eds. New York: W. W. Norton, 2000.