The Allegory of the Cave is a story used by Plato to exemplify and vividly demonstrate an abstract notion that the philosopher aimed to explain. The purpose of this story is to indicate that the lack of education is a limiting factor that alters one’s belief about the world. Without education, people might only be capable of understanding the part of the world in the form of glimpses, like one sees the shadows of the objects on the walls of a cave. Since it is difficult to comprehend and even put in words the message of such an abstract nature, the philosopher uses the tool of allegory to make parallels with comprehensive notions for the audience’s better understanding.
Indeed, the use of stories is often preferable to lectures since the stories can evoke images in mind, which are easier to comprehend than words with abstract meanings. In my experience, I often witnessed the use of stories in the educational setting, where teachers used stories to simplify complex phenomena. For example, when learning a foreign language and trying to memorize grammatical rules, one can better memorize the rule when it is delivered in the form of a story. Since stories aim to demonstrate the argument and not merely deliver it, they are more effective.
Another vivid and recently experienced example of when a story helped me understand more than the argument was when reading The Republic. I did not fully comprehend the philosopher’s argument about the unity of virtue in an individual and the state. However, the author put it in the form of a story with an example of a man who obtains money and functions as a just and reasonable citizen. Such an explanation helped me visualize the abstract meaning and tie the complex notions to simple images and ideas.