My Interpretation of "The Allegory of the Den"
 

    To me, "The Allegory of the Cave" is talking about life itself. The prisoners are people in the world that are oppressed and are in a sense trapped in one place. This can be related to life in the ghetto.  People grow up in the "projects" and never leave.
    The light represents a way out, whether it be a job opportunity, or an education.  There is always a person that is lucky enough to get out of that "prison".  Some people come back to inform other "prisoners" on what's on the outside or what's going on in other parts of the world.  This gives the other "prisoners" hope, but it is up to them to break away from the ghetto, and move on to higher things in life.
    The part that talks about too much light and pain would represent something being more than that person can handle, causing that person to want to return to their ghettos to feel more comfortable.  They return to realize that it would be better for them to go back to the better life.
    The chains on the prisoners, represents the fallbacks of why they are "prisoners" of life. Falbacks such as being uneducated can be a big factor, because without knowledge, you will not be able to solve problems and use your common sense to be able to escape the ghetto or whatever your prison may be.  Unemployment can also play a huge factor in this too. Society can also be a big setback.  Society or the government does many things to  to hold people back into their prisons.
    In the end, he (Socrates) talks about remebering where your habitat is.  He thinks that no matter how high of success you may reach you should never forget where you come from.