Analysis Of Ishmael: An Adventure Of Mind And Spirit By David Quinn

The book Ishmael: An Adventure of Mind and Spirit written by David Quinn is a philosophical novel about a man who is seeking a teacher to help understand the meaning of life. When reading the newspaper, he comes across an ad for a teacher looking for a student to help save the world, the man has been looking for an opportunity like this for his whole life and is eager to apply. When he walks into the room he sees a gorilla who is able to talk to the man telepathically. The narrator is at first confused of what he found but knows deep down that this is the teacher he has been looking for his whole life. The gorillas name is Ishmael he was from Africa but was bought by a man called Walter Sokolow; which was the person to teach him how to talk telepathically and where he received all
The narrator and Ishmael began having meetings where Ishmael would discuss his views on culture and would try to help the narrator to a better understand of his cultural history. Ishmael goes about doing this by dividing humans into two groups: Takers and Leavers. Takers are members of the dominant culture, they believe that humans rule the world, and with their intelligence and technology will continue to not only rule the world but the universe. Leavers are members of the land that live a simpler life, the follow the basic rules of Earth and see all as equal in power. Ishmael's goal is to open the eyes of the narrator to see that Taker culture may have been smart and resourceful when challenging the ecological rules but it truly is doomed for failure and detrimental to the planet. Ishmael continues to explain the culture of Takers and Leavers by giving examples of the