Epiphanic Prison: Difference between revisions
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{{quote|''"The Earthman's walls are crude and literal, so that their existence is obtrusive and obvious - and there are always some who long to escape. The Aurorans' walls are immaterial and aren't even seen as walls, so that none can even conceive of escaping."''|''' {{spoiler|Giskard}}''', ''[[The Robots of Dawn]]''}}
A prison doesn't need to have four walls, a ceiling, and a floor. Why would you need those if the prisoner doesn't want to or know how to leave? After all, if you think you are free, no escape is possible. This is the
As the name implies, the only way to escape an Epiphanic Prison is to have an epiphany. The nature of the enlightenment varies. Sometimes it's self enlightenment, and understanding and mastering one's own fears lets one escape the [[Ontological Mystery]]. Sometimes it's understanding of one's surrounding, of ''why'' one is trapped, and thus what must be done to escape.
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* ''[[V for Vendetta]]'': In a philosophical rather than physical/literal sense, this happens to {{spoiler|both Evey Hammond and Eric Finch}}, {{spoiler|in Evey's case due to her long imprisonment by V, and in Finch's, after an acid trip}}.
* Inverted in the ''[[Fantastic Four]]'' when Reed is trapped in Doctor Doom's armor. To get out, he has to learn to think like Doom, thus trapping himself much more profoundly.
* During a brief tour of Hell in the ''[[The Sandman]]'' {{spoiler|right before he quits and locks it up}}, Lucifer the Morningstar explains to Dream that Hell is an
* One issue of [[Miracleman]] centers around a spy working in a city called [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|The City]] for some shadowy ill-defined government agency. They give her missions to relay information to other agents, who are identified using elaborate [[Spy Speak|sign/countersign]] codes. She's also a double agent for another shadowy, ill-defined government agency who she leaks information to. Eventually she goes AWOL and decides to leave the city, at which point it's revealed that {{spoiler|after Miracle Man appointed himself ruler of the entire world and united it under a one-world government, there was no more need for international espionage, and since a lot of ex-spies couldn't function unless they were spying and being secretive, he just stuck them all in one city, wiped their memories of him taking over, and hired 4 people as the leaders of various "agencies". Literally everyone in the city is spying on everyone else while pretending to have regular jobs. And since they technically do have regular jobs, The City still has a viable economy and can contribute to the world without threatening the stability of his government.}}
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"When this is killed," [Miles] touched her forehead, oh so lightly, "then the Cetagandans have nothing more to fear from this," one finger on her bicep, "and you will all go free. To a world whose horizon will encircle you just like this dome, and just as inescapably." }}
* According to {{spoiler|R. Giskard Relentov}} in ''[[The Robots of Dawn]]'', this is why Earthmen, not Spacers, are destined to settle the galaxy - they at least know that they are trapped.
* In ''[[The Cat Who|The Cat Who Sniffed Glue]]'', wealthy parents Nigel and Margret Finch have their twin sons David and Harvey in one of these. They addicted the boys to a life of luxury, then give them just enough of an allowance to let them keep living the good
* In ''[[The Chronicles of Prydain]]'', [[Royals Who Actually Do Something|Prince Gwydion]] is held by [[God Save Us From the Queen|Achren]] in what he calls a prison of the soul. {{spoiler|He escapes by having an epiphany which causes it to become a [[Cardboard Prison]] that can no longer hold him.}}
* In ''[[Guardians of Ga'Hoole]]'' the {{spoiler|hagsfiends' descendants are held in the Crystal Palace, kept in by keeping them so pampered that their feathers grow so long that they cannot fly, and they don't care about the outside.}}
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== Web Comics ==
* ''[[Jack (webcomic)|Jack]]'' has the residents of Hell, all of whom are stuck there until 1) they realize that what they did to get condemned there was ''bad and wrong'', and manage to admit this to themselves, and 2) ask for forgiveness. After that, it's a matter of working to the point where the angels keeping an eye on things down there are willing to say that you've earned the chance to reincarnate and try again.
Hell likes to throw curve balls sometimes. At least two of the residents that we've seen so far have either no memory of what they did that got them condemned to Hell—or no memory at all, prior to ending up in Hell. In both cases, it's noted that this kind of screws the individual over. It's also implied, though, that Hell itself may be a [[Genius Loci]] that acts as a sadistic jailer. {{spoiler|In Jack's case}}, this was ''self-inflicted''. {{spoiler|At the moment of his death, he pleaded with [[God]] to erase his memories.}}
** What makes it even more of a downer is that we meet more than one or two people who are in Hell, and know exactly, specifically why they are there, and what it would entail to get out. Just one of two problems: 1, they feel they [[Self-Inflicted Hell|deserve to go unforgiven and suffer forever]], or 2, the reason they believe themselves to be in hell is ''wrong'', becoming something of a spiritual wild goose chase.
* ''[[Dominic Deegan]]'' gives this treatment to Hell as well. If damned souls are able to acknowledge their sins in life and own up to their past mistakes, their souls explode and return to the [[Life Stream]].
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* Plato gave us the idea of the world being a cave in which we see shadows dancing on the wall and think they're the reality; only those who turn around and see outside the cave can escape, and when they try to explain things to the people still inside the cave, generally the people still inside the cave think they're nuts. [[C. S. Lewis|CS Lewis]] also used this illustration to good effect in some of his theological writings and in the creation of Narnia.
* The concept of learned helplessness is a real-life form of this. Basically, when an animal is hurt but prevented from escaping, it will learn it cannot escape. Then, even when the barriers which prevented from escaping are removed, it will still not escape as it has learned that it can't.
* Wilhelm
* The feeling of clinical depression, and the epiphany that comes from having overcome it, is a very accurate description of this trope.
* Cattle guards. Especially the ones that are just painted on the road.
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