How does the author Michael Gerard Bauer show growth in character Ishmael Leseur?
The novel “Don’t Call Me Ishmael” by Michael Gerard Bauer looks at the development of an awkward teenage boy, Ishmael Leseur. The novel shows how he learns to live through his extreme shyness and bully Barry Bagsley. As the story progresses Bauer clearly shows Ishmael’s struggles and how he develops himself because of certain experiences and influences that come into his life.
When we are first introduced to protagonist Ishmael Leseur he is seen to be extremely shy with almost no communication skills with his peers in school and is completely unable to defend himself against bullies. At the beginning of the novel Ishmael explains that he wasn't always like this, in fact Ishmael didn't know there anything ‘wrong’ with him until high school where Barry Bagsley began his torments against Ishmael.
From the beginning of the book it is
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At first Ishmael is set on not doing it as it isn’t something he would ever do because he wasn't confident in himself and thought that he was way to shy to talk to an audience, but with Scobie’s non stop arguments and bargaining Ishmael reluctantly joins with a promise of only needed to research subjects for the debates. In joining this team he meets new people and makes unbreakable friendships. As the year goes on with each win the team has the closer they get and the more confident Ishmael becomes.
Most of Ishmael’s new found Orazio ‘The Razz man’ Zorzotto who is an extremely confident young man. His confidence does rub off on Ishmael after some time influences confidence. All this confident is crushed into nothing when he is forced to go onto stage at one of the debates. This moment crushes his new confidence and self-esteem because he faints before even stating a point to the debate and on his way down coincidently gropes an opposing team member and crush Kelly