Don't call me Ishmael
The theme of, ‘the power of language’ is important in the book ‘Don’t call me Ishmael’ by Michael Gerard Bauer. The book was interesting in many ways, power of language is used not all the time but in most of the cases. The main obstacle of the theme ‘the power of language’ were the dislike and distrust between Barry Bagsley and Miss Tarango in the chair challenge. It was a very useful thing to have for James Scobie in the Assembly and to Ishmael in his prayer.
The power of language is used through this book in chapter 9. In chapter 9, Miss Tarango gives Barry Bagsley the ‘Chair Challenge’ where she has claimed to be able to force him out of the chair before walking around it three times. This unfortunately meant that Barry Bagsley had to wait for Miss Tarango to finish it first. But she fails to complete the third circle which meant that he had to leave the classroom when the bell goes, therefore losing the challenge. Miss Tarango supports the power of language, saying “You see how the power of language can be, boys? Even a little word like “before” can hurt you if you don’t treat it with respect and listen carefully.” (Page 39) As a result this highlights how language can be very powerful which gives Ishmael confidence in his words. The power of language is distributed in chapter 45 and 46. In these two chapters Ishmael gives Barry Bagsley the taste of his own medicine, where he claims that Barry is wrong about Ishmael not having a prayer. Unfortunately for Barry, Ishmael did not say the prayer because he was stumbling by what he was going to say and he had second thoughts. Meaning that Barry was not going to get what he was supposed to get. Ishmael changed his prayer from revenge to a weird prayer. “Let us pray that barriers which separate us and keep us apart can be overcome and that we can learn to get along with each other.” (Page 259) This scene highlights how language can be used for the good and the evil. And it made a different in Ishmael’s
The power of language is used through this book in chapter 9. In chapter 9, Miss Tarango gives Barry Bagsley the ‘Chair Challenge’ where she has claimed to be able to force him out of the chair before walking around it three times. This unfortunately meant that Barry Bagsley had to wait for Miss Tarango to finish it first. But she fails to complete the third circle which meant that he had to leave the classroom when the bell goes, therefore losing the challenge. Miss Tarango supports the power of language, saying “You see how the power of language can be, boys? Even a little word like “before” can hurt you if you don’t treat it with respect and listen carefully.” (Page 39) As a result this highlights how language can be very powerful which gives Ishmael confidence in his words. The power of language is distributed in chapter 45 and 46. In these two chapters Ishmael gives Barry Bagsley the taste of his own medicine, where he claims that Barry is wrong about Ishmael not having a prayer. Unfortunately for Barry, Ishmael did not say the prayer because he was stumbling by what he was going to say and he had second thoughts. Meaning that Barry was not going to get what he was supposed to get. Ishmael changed his prayer from revenge to a weird prayer. “Let us pray that barriers which separate us and keep us apart can be overcome and that we can learn to get along with each other.” (Page 259) This scene highlights how language can be used for the good and the evil. And it made a different in Ishmael’s