plato's allegory in the cave

Today in class we read "Plato's allegory of the cave", which is one part of the "Republic". The Republic is Plato's greatest written work about the teachings of Socrates. In the allegory of the cave, part one is about the setting of the story. A group of people are shackled in a cave, and all they can see are the shadows of the people with statues walking behind them. They have been there a long time and know nothing else. In part two, a prisoner gets dragged to the outside and was blinded by the light of the sun. This man gets accustomed to the outside. The man gathers lots of new ideas and thoughts about the sun and the outside, and feels bad that the people in the cave don't know about it. In part three, the man goes back into the cave to show the other prisoners the outside and to enlighten them, but they think of him as a threat and kill him. I think this represents the fact that people are bound to society's points of view, and everything they have been taught from the books, but if they go outside and think for themselves then they will be ridiculed (or even killed). It shows that people are sometimes threatened by something new or a change in their normal lives, and they do not want to accept it and get rid of what they have known their whole lives. This lesson can relate to modern-day situations and ancient situations. It also talks about how painful it is to be different from everyone else and to experience something new, but once you do then you become enlightened and want to share what you learned. I think the people with the statues are like todays education system or the government, and if you try to think for yourself they don't like it.