The Cave is an allusion to and retelling of Pluto’s Cave by the famous author Jose Saramago. He is known for his allusions and simple explanations of hard themes and points of views. He lets the public look at cases from another angle than what the mainstream media portrays. In The Cave, we follow Cipriano Algor as he moves in to and tries to understand the Center.
The Center is quite obviously the allusion of Pluto’s cave, also revealed as the people in the book label the Center as the Cave, as there is hung a huge poster where “Pluto’s Cave, exclusive attraction, buy your tickets now” is written. It shows that things are not always the way they seem, as Cipriano didn’t know what he was getting himself into when he moved there.
Saramago lets a silver lining slip through the book, as even the cutlery Cipriano used was replaces by the new, modern and comfortable new cutleries the Center wanted. His life changes as he moves in and discovers a world in which he has no say, as the people act as one unified front where the individuals are meaningless. Saramago later reveals that the story not only is an allusion for Pluto’s Cave, but for also for the humans living today, stuck in the other dimension of the social media network.
