Analysis Of Ishmael: An Adventure Of The Mind And Spirit By Daniel Quinn

The novel Ishmael: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit by Daniel Quinn describes two different groups of humans, the Leavers and the Takers. In the novel the narrator grows indignant at Ishmael’s ad, since it reminds him of earlier disappointments. In his teenage years, the narrator is out to find a teacher who could tell him what was wrong with the world. He felt that he was being lied to about something, but could never could find out what that lie was. The most frustrating to the narrator is that he senses he has all the tools to discover this on his own, but lacks system by which to properly use the tools. Quinn writes this book to alert readers to the fact that everyone has the ability to change the world; it does not depend on finding

There are some people who try to live simply and not do anything extra than what they truly need. And there are people who just want more than what they need. Some people always try to make something better than the last. Or take more than they already need, Takers. And some people just go with the flow and are fine as long as they are alive and well, Leavers. To overcome the power of the taker story people must embrace the understanding of the human place in history of life, that they belong to the world and are not set apart to be masters of it. Takers are captive to the narratives of “mother nature”, they are unhappy and unfulfilled in their high stress striving. I agree with that because so many people do more than what is expected and stress themselves out and they do several things that aren’t routinely done in nature. For example they exterminate their competitors through war on others especially people from the Leavers culture. They destroy competitors food to make room for their own through destruction of other tribes and killing plants and animals that threaten their food supply. The reason I say that because they would do whatever it takes to be on top as I said they want more than what they need. An example from the novel is “the world was not made for any one species,” and “any species that exempts itself from the rules of competition ends up destroying the community

If the Takers can begin to enact a different, more harmonious story, then perhaps the world will not be destroyed. At this point, the narrator is distracted by a visitor and other problems for many days. When he does come back he realized that Ishmael has been removed. Later on the after some investigation he was able to find Ishmael in a traveling carnival, and he visits him to continue their lessons and conversations. Ishmael was not feeling so well but he was able to eventually continue. The narrator returns to the city to collect money he can use to buy Ishmael from the carnival. But, sadly when the narrator returns to the carnival he discovered that Ishmael has died of pneumonia. He collects the gorilla’s belongings, only to find a message on the back of the poster he had seen on his first visit to the office. The back reads; “With gorilla gone, will there be hope for man?” (263). And that’s the final thing the narrator learned from Ishmael.