Plato's Allegory of the Cave" is not an essay, but it is a well-known story that uses many of the same devices as an essay. The story is about a group of people who have been living in a cave their entire lives. The cave has a fire at the entrance, and the people are chained so that they can only look at the back wall of the cave. The people believe that the shadows on the wall are reality. One day, one of the people is freed from his chains and is able to leave the cave. He sees the real world and realizes that the shadows were just an illusion. He tries to tell the other people in the cave, but they don't believe him and think he is crazy. The story is an allegory for the way that humans can be deceived by their own perception."