Questions for the author

[María Andrea Fernández Sepúlveda]

I would like to know if he inspired his idea of Plato's Allegory of the Cave. I know it's a nerdy question , but I've been wondering since I read the review...

what is Plato's Allegory of the cave?

It's an allegory presented by Plato in his book "Republic" to explain ignorance and the nature of sensorial perception.

"In the allegory, Plato likens people untutored in the Theory of Forms to prisoners chained in a cave, unable to turn their heads. All they can see is the wall of the cave. Behind them burns a fire. Between the fire and the prisoners there is a parapet, along which puppeteers can walk. The puppeteers, who are behind the prisoners, hold up puppets that cast shadows on the wall of the cave. The prisoners are unable to see these puppets, the real objects, that pass behind them. What the prisoners see and hear are shadows and echoes cast by objects that they do not see.
The philosopher is like a prisoner who is freed from the cave and comes to understand that the shadows on the wall are not reality at all, for he can perceive the true form of reality rather than the manufactured reality that is the shadows seen by the prisoners.
The inmates of this place do not even desire to leave their prison, for they know no better life. The prisoners manage to break their bonds one day and discover that their reality was not what they thought it was. They discovered the sun, which Plato uses as an analogy for the fire that man cannot see behind. Like the fire that cast light on the walls of the cave, the human condition is forever bound to the impressions that are received through the senses. Even if these interpretations are an absurd misrepresentation of reality, we cannot somehow break free from the bonds of our human condition—we cannot free ourselves from the phenomenal state just as the prisoners could not free themselves from their chains. If however, we were to miraculously escape our bondage, we would find a world that we could not understand—the sun is incomprehensible for someone who has never seen it. In other words, we would encounter another "realm", a place incomprehensible because, theoretically, it is the source of a higher reality than the one we have always known; it is the realm of pure Form, pure fact."

https://faculty.washington.edu/smcohen/320/cave.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegory_of_the_Cave

[Dikay127]

I also definitely want to know if there's a sequel in the works! I would also want to know if Pellucid (from the books) would be the narrator since she said at the end she would be writing a book about Will.

[Kro92813]

I would like to know if he inspired his idea of Plato's Allegory of the Cave. I know it's a nerdy question , but I've been wondering since I read the review...

what is Plato's Allegory of the cave?

It's an allegory presented by Plato in his book "Republic" to explain ignorance and the nature of sensorial perception.

"In the allegory, Plato likens people untutored in the Theory of Forms to prisoners chained in a cave, unable to turn their heads. All they can see is the wall of the cave. Behind them burns a fire. Between the fire and the prisoners there is a parapet, along which puppeteers can walk. The puppeteers, who are behind the prisoners, hold up puppets that cast shadows on the wall of the cave. The prisoners are unable to see these puppets, the real objects, that pass behind them. What the prisoners see and hear are shadows and echoes cast by objects that they do not see.
The philosopher is like a prisoner who is freed from the cave and comes to understand that the shadows on the wall are not reality at all, for he can perceive the true form of reality rather than the manufactured reality that is the shadows seen by the prisoners.
The inmates of this place do not even desire to leave their prison, for they know no better life. The prisoners manage to break their bonds one day and discover that their reality was not what they thought it was. They discovered the sun, which Plato uses as an analogy for the fire that man cannot see behind. Like the fire that cast light on the walls of the cave, the human condition is forever bound to the impressions that are received through the senses. Even if these interpretations are an absurd misrepresentation of reality, we cannot somehow break free from the bonds of our human condition—we cannot free ourselves from the phenomenal state just as the prisoners could not free themselves from their chains. If however, we were to miraculously escape our bondage, we would find a world that we could not understand—the sun is incomprehensible for someone who has never seen it. In other words, we would encounter another "realm", a place incomprehensible because, theoretically, it is the source of a higher reality than the one we have always known; it is the realm of pure Form, pure fact."

https://faculty.washington.edu/smcohen/320/cave.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegory_of_the_Cave

Interesting! I think I may have read that in a college course at one point! It brings up the fact that our world is perceived by what we think we see and know, but it isnt necessarily truth.

So are you saying that the Sound realm is like that of the prisoners in the cave and Echoland is the actual reality?

I think they are just both separate realms with their own truths, but maybe the author got the idea from this philosophy?

I'd be curious to see your thoughts once you have finished the book!

[Kro92813]

I also definitely want to know if there's a sequel in the works! I would also want to know if Pellucid (from the books) would be the narrator since she said at the end she would be writing a book about Will.

See I interpreted that statement about her writing a book about Will as in she wrote the book we just read - which was an interesting twist!

[Dikay127]

I also definitely want to know if there's a sequel in the works! I would also want to know if Pellucid (from the books) would be the narrator since she said at the end she would be writing a book about Will.

See I interpreted that statement about her writing a book about Will as in she wrote the book we just read - which was an interesting twist!

Oh that's interesting! I suppose you could have seen it that way. That just never crossed my mind!

[Kro92813]

I also definitely want to know if there's a sequel in the works! I would also want to know if Pellucid (from the books) would be the narrator since she said at the end she would be writing a book about Will.

See I interpreted that statement about her writing a book about Will as in she wrote the book we just read - which was an interesting twist!

Oh that's interesting! I suppose you could have seen it that way. That just never crossed my mind!

Isnt it interesting that we can read the same words but view them so differently?

I imagine Pellucid will be writing more adventures about Will in the future - and hopefully highlight Emmy a bit more too!

[Washboard]

This also sort of brings up the issue of mongrels. That's a Sound and an Echo having a child - so what happens to their other halves? Do they get together and have a half-breed child too?

Good point! If harmonies can exist, that must mean that Echos are capable of reproducing. Can they only reproduce with a Sound, or can two Echos have a child? Does that Echo also have a Sound born in the other realm somehow?

I dont think it would be possible for an Echo to be born before a Sound. Because when a sound is born it's Echo is washed down the rivers and streams into Echoland. So maybe two echos could try to have a child, but wouldn't conceive unless their sounds did first?

But aren't Echos born along with the Sound and washed into Echoland? I think that would mean that no Echos are born within Echoland.

[Kro92813]

Good point! If harmonies can exist, that must mean that Echos are capable of reproducing. Can they only reproduce with a Sound, or can two Echos have a child? Does that Echo also have a Sound born in the other realm somehow?

I dont think it would be possible for an Echo to be born before a Sound. Because when a sound is born it's Echo is washed down the rivers and streams into Echoland. So maybe two echos could try to have a child, but wouldn't conceive unless their sounds did first?

But aren't Echos born along with the Sound and washed into Echoland? I think that would mean that no Echos are born within Echoland.

Yes I think you are right! This was one of the points I was confused on with the authors writing. The only mention of how echoes come to be is when dea says "“Life begins twice. You see the Sounds, but you don’t see their see-through reflections. They float away at birth: flowers, trees, animals…people. Rain washes them into rivers, and the rivers wash them into Echoland.”

So idk how they are retrieved in echoland or what happens once they are washed away, but it sounds like no echo is "born" in echoland

[cpru68]

I always want to know how author’s come up with their ideas. The book has such a dream like quality that I started to wonder if the story began while sleeping! Some people write down their dreams, and I would be interested to know where this vivid imaginative story originated from.

[Chrystal Oaks]

I would ask the author about the general experience of writing fantasy. Is it strange to move between the world of her fictional universe and the world in which she has to email publishers and wash dishes? Does the ever half-expect to be able to say a spell and make the dishes wash themselves?

I like those questions. When I finish a book, sometimes I wish I could do whatever the MC can do and then remember I'm living in "the real life". Bummer.

[Chrystal Oaks]

Another question for the author is: What are the behavioural similarities and differences for all Echoes and Sounds? Is it a yin and yang situation or twins situation?

I like these questions.

[Ferdinand_Otieno]

I would like to know if he inspired his idea of Plato's Allegory of the Cave. I know it's a nerdy question , but I've been wondering since I read the review...

what is Plato's Allegory of the cave?

It's an allegory presented by Plato in his book "Republic" to explain ignorance and the nature of sensorial perception.

"In the allegory, Plato likens people untutored in the Theory of Forms to prisoners chained in a cave, unable to turn their heads. All they can see is the wall of the cave. Behind them burns a fire. Between the fire and the prisoners there is a parapet, along which puppeteers can walk. The puppeteers, who are behind the prisoners, hold up puppets that cast shadows on the wall of the cave. The prisoners are unable to see these puppets, the real objects, that pass behind them. What the prisoners see and hear are shadows and echoes cast by objects that they do not see.
The philosopher is like a prisoner who is freed from the cave and comes to understand that the shadows on the wall are not reality at all, for he can perceive the true form of reality rather than the manufactured reality that is the shadows seen by the prisoners.
The inmates of this place do not even desire to leave their prison, for they know no better life. The prisoners manage to break their bonds one day and discover that their reality was not what they thought it was. They discovered the sun, which Plato uses as an analogy for the fire that man cannot see behind. Like the fire that cast light on the walls of the cave, the human condition is forever bound to the impressions that are received through the senses. Even if these interpretations are an absurd misrepresentation of reality, we cannot somehow break free from the bonds of our human condition—we cannot free ourselves from the phenomenal state just as the prisoners could not free themselves from their chains. If however, we were to miraculously escape our bondage, we would find a world that we could not understand—the sun is incomprehensible for someone who has never seen it. In other words, we would encounter another "realm", a place incomprehensible because, theoretically, it is the source of a higher reality than the one we have always known; it is the realm of pure Form, pure fact."

https://faculty.washington.edu/smcohen/320/cave.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegory_of_the_Cave

Thank you for sharing this, I did not know about it.

[Ferdinand_Otieno]

what is Plato's Allegory of the cave?

It's an allegory presented by Plato in his book "Republic" to explain ignorance and the nature of sensorial perception.

"In the allegory, Plato likens people untutored in the Theory of Forms to prisoners chained in a cave, unable to turn their heads. All they can see is the wall of the cave. Behind them burns a fire. Between the fire and the prisoners there is a parapet, along which puppeteers can walk. The puppeteers, who are behind the prisoners, hold up puppets that cast shadows on the wall of the cave. The prisoners are unable to see these puppets, the real objects, that pass behind them. What the prisoners see and hear are shadows and echoes cast by objects that they do not see.
The philosopher is like a prisoner who is freed from the cave and comes to understand that the shadows on the wall are not reality at all, for he can perceive the true form of reality rather than the manufactured reality that is the shadows seen by the prisoners.
The inmates of this place do not even desire to leave their prison, for they know no better life. The prisoners manage to break their bonds one day and discover that their reality was not what they thought it was. They discovered the sun, which Plato uses as an analogy for the fire that man cannot see behind. Like the fire that cast light on the walls of the cave, the human condition is forever bound to the impressions that are received through the senses. Even if these interpretations are an absurd misrepresentation of reality, we cannot somehow break free from the bonds of our human condition—we cannot free ourselves from the phenomenal state just as the prisoners could not free themselves from their chains. If however, we were to miraculously escape our bondage, we would find a world that we could not understand—the sun is incomprehensible for someone who has never seen it. In other words, we would encounter another "realm", a place incomprehensible because, theoretically, it is the source of a higher reality than the one we have always known; it is the realm of pure Form, pure fact."

https://faculty.washington.edu/smcohen/320/cave.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegory_of_the_Cave

Interesting! I think I may have read that in a college course at one point! It brings up the fact that our world is perceived by what we think we see and know, but it isnt necessarily truth.

So are you saying that the Sound realm is like that of the prisoners in the cave and Echoland is the actual reality?

I think they are just both separate realms with their own truths, but maybe the author got the idea from this philosophy?

I'd be curious to see your thoughts once you have finished the book!

I too would e curious to see your conclusion once you've had a chance to finish this book.

[Ferdinand_Otieno]

I also definitely want to know if there's a sequel in the works! I would also want to know if Pellucid (from the books) would be the narrator since she said at the end she would be writing a book about Will.

See I interpreted that statement about her writing a book about Will as in she wrote the book we just read - which was an interesting twist!

This was my interpretation as well since this book is overly focussed on Will and his adventures.

[Ferdinand_Otieno]

I also definitely want to know if there's a sequel in the works! I would also want to know if Pellucid (from the books) would be the narrator since she said at the end she would be writing a book about Will.

See I interpreted that statement about her writing a book about Will as in she wrote the book we just read - which was an interesting twist!

Oh that's interesting! I suppose you could have seen it that way. That just never crossed my mind!

I guess that you learn a little something every single day.