Fight or Flight

             Plato's Allegory of the Cave and Sartre's No Exit both deal with major character flaws in the human race that have transcended from generation to generation. Both author's use humans placed in unsatisfactory situations. One being stuck in a cave for eternity and the other stuck in a hotel room. The interesting thing about these two stories are the characters themselves. When placed in their unsuitable enviorment a denizen from the cave reacts much differently then Garcin in the hotel room, the two different outlooks further along their specific author's theme, tone, and philosophy.
               Take for example a slave witnesses one of his fellow slaves defy their metaphysical situation and venture out of the cave. Now this is unheard of, the slave will retreat into a state of shock. The instant reaction will be to flee to the humans placed next to them. Even if the freed slave is happy the other slaves have such an addiction to codependency that they lack the skill set to leave the comfortable cave. It all leads back to the human tendency to fear change. This ultimately proves another point Plato is saying through his allegory, that we do not know the reality of the world we live in until we have seen others. So does this prove the point that maybe our reality is completely different then the man next to us is? This also settles the continuous tone of uncertainty carried out by all the slaves. 
                Now Garcin would take a much different approach. Watching a counterpart exit the "hell" he is placed into would almost anger him. He would take the 'fight' approach and demand to know why he would not be allowed to leave as well after his certain try to follow. This is the difference between Sartre and Plato. Sartre's characters describe a completely different flaw, that their independency does not provide them with the skills to live comfortably with others. Even to the point where they are so arrogant that being forced to spend 24 hours a day with themselves almost makes things unbearable, their so disgusted with the human race that they are unable to be around it. This provides evidence to the point that, "Hell is other people."
This also adds onto the vainglorious tone carried throughout the entire story.
               When analyzed it seems as though Plato and Sartre told completely different stories that showcased different flaws in ourselves. Yet this by itself is another flaw we have. The ability to over think. Sartre and Plato told the same story, a story about a tragic human flaw. A flaw that makes us less of a person. Even though these flaws are different, does it really even matter?