The importance of unity in Plato's Republic is explicitly shown in his passage describing why the guardians should have wives and children in common. The city, Plato says, will "speak in unison" of their wives and children. This idea of unity is divided into three parts by Plato's theory. First, no parents or children will know each other, and thus will be one "family." Next, we see that all possessions will be those of the city and not of any individual, therefore, there will be no fighting because there will be no classes. Lastly, elders have the right to punish younger ones and the younger ones will respect their elders, allowing all "to live at peace with one another.".
Unity is clearly vital in Plato's idea of the perfect society as seen through his plan to have no parents or children know each other. When talking about guardians, Plato quotes, " when he meets any one of them, he"ll hold that he's meeting a brother or sister, a father or mother, a son or daughter, or some ancestor or descendent of theirs."1 Unity comes into play because the citizens will "speak in unison the words we mentioned," exclaims Plato, of the fact that everyone will refer to each other with these names. 2 Furthermore, because no parent knows their own child, when any child "is doing well or badly, they"ll say that "mine" is doing well or that "mine" is doing badly."3 This way, the citizens will have the same thing in common, thus, they will have "common pleasures and pains."4 The standard family of the time is being broken apart, so the people of the city form one big family. Now, the people will no longer use terms to divide the town apart such as "us" and "them," but rather "we" will be used. The idea of having "common children" clearly unites all the citizens in Plato's perfect society.
Along with the idea of anonymous parents and children, is the more general sense of "commonality" shown as Plato describes that not only will children and wives be common amongst the people, but so will all possessions.
