Ishmael Summary and Analysis Ishmael is a philosophical novel written by Daniel Quinn in order to address our environmental crisis. He tries to answer questions in environmental ethics by using biblical allusions, metaphors from Hinduism and other philosophical notions. In this essay I am going to summarize Ishmael and analyze important terms and concepts the author uses. In the first part I am going introduce to the main characters Ishmael and the narrator, in the second part I am going to discuss their dialogue and Ishmael’s teachings, and in the third part I am going to conclude what the narrator learned.
In Classical Indian Philosophy a teacher teaches the highest truth to his student if the student is ready, which means the student …show more content…
His former name was Goliath until he was rescued by Walter Sokolow, a Jewish man who taught him how to speak telepathically and gave him his new name, Ishmael. The author uses these names to show how the gorilla first posed a threat to humanity (Goliath) and how he became domesticated into the human family with the name Ishmael (as the biblical son of Abraham and Sarah). The author wants to show here also, that Mr. Sokolow, a Jewish man feels sympathy with Ishmael since his people where captives themselves in World War II. On retreat with his new family, Ishmael came to realize that he is a teacher, whose main subject is captivity. Ishmael explains to the narrator that humans not only hold captives, but are captives themselves who have made the world their prison. The only reason why humans cannot experience freedom is because they cannot “find the bars of the cage” (Quinn, 26). It seems to me that with the metaphor of the “bars of the prison”, Ishmael demonstrates that humans have not yet realized that they are captives and that there is no difference between the gorilla in the cage and humans acting on the …show more content…
Ishmael uses Hitler and Nazi Germany as a metaphor to show that we are not different today. Nazis enacted a story and believed a story Hitler told them. Our story today comes out of a herd mentality wherein media, teachers and conditioned parents show us how “to enact”. “To enact” means, in this context, that humans do not act but rather follow orders, many times unconsciously without thinking (like the Nazis did). Ishmael further explains that “Mother Culture” is the culture that gives orders. He uses “Mother Culture” as a synonym for the caretaker over humans. The caretaker, like a mother, tells humans what to do and when to go to sleep, keeping them in childlike ignorance and dependent. “Mother Culture” might also be interpreted as the hegemonic forces of the “mercantile paradigm” (Nelson, 91). In Nelson’s book, Rita Sherma states that the “mercantile paradigm is one of expansion and exploitation, one that denies the interdependence of all life” (Nelson, 91). I think that this quote describes best what Ishmael means with “Mother Culture” in the sense that humanity is controlled by corporate industries and that we consumers support these with no regard to our environment. If humans do not follow mother culture’s orders to produce, consume, and acquire wealth, they are not fed or taken care of. The only way to escape is through death or
In Classical Indian Philosophy a teacher teaches the highest truth to his student if the student is ready, which means the student …show more content…
His former name was Goliath until he was rescued by Walter Sokolow, a Jewish man who taught him how to speak telepathically and gave him his new name, Ishmael. The author uses these names to show how the gorilla first posed a threat to humanity (Goliath) and how he became domesticated into the human family with the name Ishmael (as the biblical son of Abraham and Sarah). The author wants to show here also, that Mr. Sokolow, a Jewish man feels sympathy with Ishmael since his people where captives themselves in World War II. On retreat with his new family, Ishmael came to realize that he is a teacher, whose main subject is captivity. Ishmael explains to the narrator that humans not only hold captives, but are captives themselves who have made the world their prison. The only reason why humans cannot experience freedom is because they cannot “find the bars of the cage” (Quinn, 26). It seems to me that with the metaphor of the “bars of the prison”, Ishmael demonstrates that humans have not yet realized that they are captives and that there is no difference between the gorilla in the cage and humans acting on the …show more content…
Ishmael uses Hitler and Nazi Germany as a metaphor to show that we are not different today. Nazis enacted a story and believed a story Hitler told them. Our story today comes out of a herd mentality wherein media, teachers and conditioned parents show us how “to enact”. “To enact” means, in this context, that humans do not act but rather follow orders, many times unconsciously without thinking (like the Nazis did). Ishmael further explains that “Mother Culture” is the culture that gives orders. He uses “Mother Culture” as a synonym for the caretaker over humans. The caretaker, like a mother, tells humans what to do and when to go to sleep, keeping them in childlike ignorance and dependent. “Mother Culture” might also be interpreted as the hegemonic forces of the “mercantile paradigm” (Nelson, 91). In Nelson’s book, Rita Sherma states that the “mercantile paradigm is one of expansion and exploitation, one that denies the interdependence of all life” (Nelson, 91). I think that this quote describes best what Ishmael means with “Mother Culture” in the sense that humanity is controlled by corporate industries and that we consumers support these with no regard to our environment. If humans do not follow mother culture’s orders to produce, consume, and acquire wealth, they are not fed or taken care of. The only way to escape is through death or