In the fable, Plato described a group of people who lived in a cave all their lives and were locked there. They can only see the wall in front of them. Behind them is a big fire. There is a raised walkway between the fire and the crowd, and others carry things back and forth. Because of the fire, people in the cave can only see the shadows of these objects on the wall in front of them.
Plato used this fable to illustrate how people live in an unreal world and mistakenly think that the shadow on the wall is real. People in caves represent individuals trapped in their own limited perspectives, unable to see the broader reality beyond their observation range. Fire and people on the sidewalk represent the imaginary world that people often mistake for reality, while the outside world outside the cave represents the real world that can only be understood through reason and philosophy.
Cave fable symbolizes the process of enlightenment in essence, from darkness to light, from ignorance to knowledge, which is the ultimate goal of philosophy.