Don T Call Me Ishmael Themes

‘Don’t Call me Ishmael is a young adult genre book which is written by author Michael Gerard Bauer. It is a fictional novel written in a journal diary style and in the perspective of a 14 year old boy, Ishmael Leseur. He was named after the narrator in Herman Merville’s infamous book, Moby Dick.
Ishmael is continuously being verbally bullied for his name throughout his entire highschool life, which caused him to have a low self-image of himself and completely lacking in confidence.
However with the support of his new friends in highschool, he was able to overcome bullying and increase his self-image. The novel contain several themes, including bullying, friendship and self-image. Despite the three being different themes, they relate really closely to each other. …show more content…
Friendship is the bond of oneself with another individual or a peer group. Friends share their happiness, knowledge and obviously support each other, especially in their time of need. The theme plays an important role in the novel as the characters were able to overcome their difficulties with the help of their friends. The theme friendship flows from the beginning of the book, and till the very end. This theme relates to Ishmael since he was able to overcome bullying and public speaking with the support of his friends. James Scobie, Ishmael’s best friend, insisted him to join the School Debating Team and with this little step Ishmael was able to takes his mind off hiding from bullies and do something that doesn’t bother him. Later on in the book, Ishmael had to take James Scobie’s place in the debating team since he went to Sydney with his father for some check-ups. This helped Ishmael to experience leadership and doing his best in the debating finals for the sake of his dear friend. Surprisingly Ishmael delivered his part