Do people prefer to live in ignorance or in knowledge? In the story told by Plato "Allegory of the Cave" gives us an example of prisoners kept ignorant, and one prisoner that is exposed to the knowledge of the real world. The prisoners were locked underground and shown puppet shows believing this was their reality, not knowing that they are just shadows of objects. A prisoner is then let go and exposed to the real world. In the reading Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri there is an example of the casue and effect of ignorance and learning the knowledge.
In the story "Interpreter of Maladies" by Jhumpa Lahiri there are two characters by the name of Mr. Kapasi and Mrs. Das. In this story these two characters would be the people in chairs facing the wall. The fire and shadows would be their thoughts and imagination that was making them believe something that wasn't real. For example, Mr. Kapasi thought that Mrs. Das liked him, and he was happy thinking this. It made him feel better about himself that some took interest to him and his job. This made Mr. Kapasi feel special, these thoughts and emotions were his fire and shadows. For Mrs. Das, she was going through a difficult moment in her life with holding a lie kept from her husband that turned her bitter and mean. When Mr. Kapasi told his stories of how he would interpret the pateints problems for the doctor, and this gave her hope that he would be able to interpret her problems and issues. She felt hopeful and excited to see how he could help her figure out her issues. For Mrs. Das these were her shadows and fire. When Mr. Kapasi and Mrs. Das get the chance to talk in the car this would represent when the prisoner is released and exposed to the sun which is the real truth and the artificial feelings they were believing. They start talking to each other and Mr. Kapasi realizes that she was not interested in him but thought that he could help her with her situation.