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Discovering Ishmael

Discovering Ishmael The story of Ishmael begins when a man is reading a paper in his home and discovers an ad which reads “Teacher Seeks Pupil. Must have an earnest desire to save the world. Apply in person.” After throwing the ad into the garbage can the man decides to dig it out and see what it is all about. Going to the address in the ad the man discovers an old office of some sort. There are but only a few items in the room. To his surprise he discovers a gorilla which is sitting behind a window. Soon enough he finds out that the gorilla “Ishmael” is the teacher. The story continues on with Ishmael telling his story first about how he began to learn of the world at a zoo and how he began to understand what the people were saying that came to see him. After Ishmael finishes the story of how he came to be the adventurous travels that the pupil is about to embark on begins. First off Ishmael goes over some vocabulary with the pupil so that when they begin the pupil will understand what Ishmael is talking about. Through a series of days Ishmael begins to guide his newfound pupil. He teaches him about the mythology that is our society and about the takers and the leavers. Throughout the book the pupil seems to hold back on believing what Ishmael is saying but he eventually and always understands it. The book goes on to talk about the law that must be followed in order for the human civilization to survive. One day when the pupil comes back he discovers that Ishmael is missing and he decides that he must find him. Finally tracking him down he finds him at a circus in a cage. After talking with him on several more occasions he returns one day to find that Ishmael has passed away. One of the things that he finds is the sign that he originally saw when he went to the office building that read. “With man gone will there be hope for gorilla?” He also discovered that something was written on the other side. “With gorilla gone will there be hope for man?” In Chapter 6 on page 96 Ishmael says: “By studying the universe you have learned how to fly, split atoms, send messages to the stars at the speed of light, and so on, but there’s no way of studying the universe to acquire the most basic and needful knowledge of all: the knowledge of how you ought to live”. Of course during this Ishmael is saying that there is a law ought there but most takers refuse to realize it. I have to admit when Ishmael first began to talk about how there is a law I refused to believe it myself but I decided to read on seeing as everything else in the book seemed to have validity to it and made since so far. I feel that one of the reasons I didn’t want to believe it at first is because I am atheist. By the end of chapter it hit all at once. As soon as I realized that this supposed law had nothing to do with religion or god I was able to put my ignorance behind me and move on. This moment is when the book really made me think. It now seems very probably that there is or even has to be some law that governs the existence life, just as gravity keeps us on this planet. The law of how we ought to live is not just some ethical perspective but an actual law that governs how we have to live in order to survive. One quote from the book I thought was very interesting was the one on the sign which read “With man gone will there be hope for gorilla?” “With gorilla gone will there be hope for man?” This particular quote meant nothing to me when I began reading the book but when I finished and the other side of the sign was revealed it was almost shocking. The one that says “With gorilla gone will there be hope for man?” almost makes you saddened at the end of the book. I think this is when you realize that Ishmael is not coming back. It is also at this point when you remember the original sign and it actually has meaning to it. I am still not sure why Daniel Quinn picked a gorilla. I think one possibility might be to symbolize where we left off in evolution and became humans. If this is true I wonder why he didn’t use a chimpanzee seeing as genetically we are closer related to the chimpanzee than the gorilla is even to the chimpanzee which makes humans 98.4 chimp! I also thought it was interesting when Ishmael said “Of Course. Everyone in your culture knows this. The pinnacle was reached in man. Man is the climax of the whole cosmic drama of creation.” It was in this that I realized that the story that we enact is a myth. One part of this myth is that we are the end product. What we don’t realize is that we are not the end product and that even without us life will continue going on and maybe reach beings that are much more intelligent than the human race could have ever been. It almost makes you wonder why we are the only species with a culture like ours. Maybe it is not smart evolution wise to realize such as we do. Overall I have enjoyed reading Ishmael immensely. I normally would have had a hard time reading for a class but I found this book very exciting and could barely put it down once I begin reading. It’s almost as if an unconscious feeling that we all have inside is finally put into words and explained. I will truly remember and cherish the ideas and concepts that have been brought up in Ishmael. I believe there are many valuable lessons to be learned in this intriguing story that can be applied to life and the way we live as human beings. Bibliography:

Word Count: 1084