Plato's cave allegory and ideas about spreading knowledge reminded me of Marquez's social values and warnings about communicating history. Plato thinks that those who gain high knowledge should share their ideas with the other people who they might view as unenlightened or "common". This reminded me of Marquez's ideas of equality and distribution that he displayed in his portrayal of Macondo; no one was a higher social status or at an advantage. Plato said that a highly aware or educated person should go back among the farmers and other workers to teach them, not stand above them. Plato believes these people should take the lead and fill political positions; Marquez does think there should be leadership, just as Ursula and her husband take charge at different points, but that all the citizens should have a hand in making decisions, and no one should be a tyrant. I think both support the idea of spreading equal knowledge and avoiding rifts that divide the community.
Plato talked about different kinds of communication, some in which those in the dark would agree their reality consists only of shadows, and other interactions where a knowledgeable person would be isolated and questioned by those who don't know what they know. Marquez emphasizes the communication, remembrance, and passing down of history in order to avoid these situations; he doesn't want anyone in the dark, so to say, about their history, and he also doesn't want the situation to develop in which the majority would become unaware and lose a piece of their identity.
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Natalia, I agree with all your points, and would like to add yet another comparison between Plato's allegory of the cave and Gabriel Marquez's "One Hundred Years of Solitude." As you mentioned, the primary focus of Plato's Allegory is the process of enlightenment for certain individuals and their subsequent teaching of "un-enlightened" citizens. Essentially, Plato is implying that knowledge is power; humans must ascend out of the 'cave' into which they are born and enter into a world of full understanding.
In "One Hundred Years of Solitude," we can think of Macondo as the cave and the rest of the world as the emergence outside of the cave (knowledge/enlightenment). In the beginning of the novel, the citizens of Macondo are stuck in the cave--completely cut off from the outside world. As the novel progresses, however, Macondo slowly opens up to the world: the gypsies, the Railroad, the Banana Company, etc. From our reading and subsequent analysis of the book, we know that all this contact with the outside world actually caused Macondo much more harm than good. If we are comparing this contact with the outside world to the ascent out of the cave that Plato references, then shouldn't the state of Macondo improve with this contact? According to Plato, it should. This is not the case, though.
So what does this show about Plato's Allegory of the Cave:
It shows that sometimes knowledge doesn't always mean enlightenment. Sometimes, people, much like Macondo was, are better off without a full understanding of everything. I think we need to ask ourselves if the "ascent out of the cave" is always for the better.
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