Compare William Golding “Thinking as a Hobby” and Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave.”
The allegory of the cave by Plato is one of the most influential allegories of the philosophical cannon. On of the first comprehensive theories of knowledge in philosophy was Plato himself. He believed knowledge was not just perception or what you see but thinking. He believed that true knowledge is knowledge of what is not truly real. The use of reason is absolutely essential to achieving that level of knowledge.
William Golding seems to have expanded on this point of thought and the act of thinking is knowledge and power in his essay Thinking as a Hobby. Through William Golding and
Plato’s essays one is able to understand that thinking and the act of thinking breaks the shackles of conformity in order for one to achieve enlightenment and become aware of true reality.
Plato’s the cave uses a vivid allegory to explain his two realm philosophy of the physical and the metaphysical existence. He bids his audience to imagine a cave where several prisoners are bound in a way where they look at only the wall in front of them. Behind these bound prisoners is a large burning fire whose light casts shadows of various objects on the wall in front of the prisoners. The prisoners cannot see the objects themselves; they believe the shadows they see as the “true” reality. One prisoner, however, eventually escapes from the cave and in the light of the sun, sees real objects for the first time, becoming aware of the big difference between them and the shadow images he had always taken for as reality and true reality.
The cave represents the world we see and experience with our senses. The world of sunlight represents the realm Plato called Forms. The prisoners represented ordinary people who once believed the shadows to be the real world in condemned darkness.
They were condemned to darkness, error, ignorance, witlessness’ and most importantly illusion. The prisoners that escaped embodied the philosopher who saw light, truth, beauty, knowledge and of course true reality. Plato believed that this current world was but a shadow, or what we perceive to be the real world, of true reality, a world beyond our own.
The cave is a realm of flawed and lesser entities as well as a place of error, illusion, devoid of logic and complete ignorance. In comparison, is the realm of Forms that are eternal, fixed, and perfect that is the sum of all reality and true knowledge. This was later termed the Platonic dualism. Forms are defined as existent states that represent truth, beauty and goodness in turn reflecting the idea of an ideal state.
William Golding, the famous author of Lord of the Flies stated in his essay Thinking as a
Hobby that there were three critical grades to critical thinking. He believed that Grade three was filled with “prejudice, hypocrisy and ignorance.”
He goes on to say that he has divided the population into three categories including grade 1, grade 2 and grade three thinkers. He believes that a majority of the population represents the largest category of grade three “thinkers”. He believed this group housed docile obedient members of society that no longer can control their own thoughts and action while having no ability to distinguish truth from lies and reality. Therefore, if one leader decided to use the group for revolution therefore the population would become brutal and violent reflecting the ideals of the corrupt leadership. This was emphasized

by his own experiences with his professor who were continually frustrated with him because they could not just understand “why can’t you think.” What was frustrating was his inability to conform to mass obedience and status quo.
He further explains that grade two “thinker’s are less influenced by one leading force.
He believed that these grades of population could detect corruption and question the honestly of religion or institution but are blinded by these ideas that really hinders this part of the population from finding new ideals to consider in. The remaining population includes grade-one thinkers who not only see corruption and violence but also seeks truth. Their particular lives are framed by beauty, wisdom and knowledge. This population exhibits traits of beauty, creativeness and imagination like Einstein and philosophers including Heraclites and Aristotle opening the general population to music, art and science.
Three statues that occupied his headmaster’s office, Rodin’s the thinking man, Venus and the leopard inspired his thoughts on societal intelligence. With The thinking man he imagined the Thinker in his own words, “sunk in his desperate thought, where there were shadows before him- and at his back”(cite p. 146) this is a very Platonic view on society. Plato stated that we were shackled by societies perception of reality focusing on but shadows of reality therefore missing out on the true realm of reality and enlightenment. Grade three thinkers are the shackled prisoners of in the cave who blindly and obediently believe what they see is true yet it is all an illusion.
Grade one thinkers are the freed prisoners who are able to think for them and discover the true form of reality as intelligence, awareness, questioning perception and more.
Golding and Plato’s theory of intelligence is one in the same. “these grade-one thinkers were few and far between. They did not visit my grammar school in the flesh though they were there in books. I aspired to them..because I was ambitious…”(p.144) Golding and Plato both clearly believe that one has to break free of those chains or blind obedience to explore the cave and find their way out of that cave.
This is where grade 2 thinkers enter, they escape that shackled existence to find reality but they do no comprehend or understand the sunlight that they are blinded by. “ I decided that Pontius Pilate was a typical grade-two thinker. ‘What is truth?’ he said, a very common grade-two thought, but one that is used always as the end of an argument instead of the beginning.”
This existence in new, enlightening and stimulating but dually represents ideas and freedoms that are hard to grasp and comprehend. This prisoner stumbles and is blinded by the new knowledge he faces finally acknowledging the world he previously thought was reality and existence was all an illusion. The burning question Golding is able to present is whether this enlightened prisoner or intellectual grade two prisoner should return to the shackled prisoners and free them from their prison of shadows and blind obedience.
He solves this problem by introducing Grade one thinkers. Grade one thinkers know the truth and embrace it and realize the truth would be too much for the shackled men and they will have to figure out the deception and step beyond the cave and into the light.
This is why Golding believes there is only 1 percent of the population who are able to do

this. Step beyond and look beyond the corruptive pressure of society and reach enlightenment and truth. “I did meet an undeniably grade-one thinker in my first year at
Oxford…He was a German….His name was Einstein…I too revered reason.”(p.144-145)
This is why Golding was so critical of his teachers and regarding their teaching methods and engagement. He was part of that one percent who was able to think for him and not blindly accept what society deemed reality or right. He believed in brilliant purity or reason. “Now you are expecting me to describe how I saw the folly of my ways and came back to the warm nest, where prejudices are so often called loyalties, where pointless actions are hallowed by repetition, where we are content..you would be wrong. I dropped my hobby and turned professional.” P.145) Golding is very critical of the contentedness of society in regards to visionless subservience. And clearly states that he is a freed prisoner of the cave who has achieved enlightenment and continues to think for him and no one else in reasonable bliss.
Plato’s allegory of the cave is used by Golding to emphasize critical thinking and intelligence within our communal society. It was a perfect allegory to explain how society shackles the general population through media, conforming to the status quo and chooses to blind them from reality accepting the illusion of corruption and greed.
By thinking outside the box and not conforming to societies typical ideals of appropriate behavior, thought and conduct we are able to individually go beyond societies borders and reach that realm of enlightenment, reason and truth. We do not have to be restricted to blind obedience, shadows of reality and elitist reasoning. By the very act of thinking for oneself one can become released from that prison and its restrictive grade one thinking.