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Dont Call Me Ishmael Quotes

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“Don’t call me Ishmael” Analytical Essay Life is often described as a rollercoaster, as you never know when you’ll experience a high or a low throughout the duration of your ride. Ishmael Leseur is a 14-year-old boy at St. Daniel’s Boys school. He often describes himself as clumsy, awkward, and a ‘walking disaster,’ as stated in the book (Chapter 1. Page 3). Many other adolescents suffer from the same views on themselves and also tend to have similar struggles to Ishmael Leseur. Ishmael’s grade nine experience is a relatable representation of the ups and downs of life at school. This is exhibited throughout the events, characters, and setting of the novel “Don’t call me Ishmael,” in a way that portrays life for the adolescents of our day and …show more content…

Many examples of this are displayed throughout the book. One significant positive impact of life displayed in “don’t call me Ishmael” is the bond of friendship between adolescents. How they interact, support, and life up each other. A quote from the novel represents this statement perfectly. “Even though we had improved from last time, the difference again was Scobie. It was like having Michael Phelps swimming the final leg for you in the under-seven floaties relay. As long as we could keep the opposition vaguely in sight, we knew that Scobie would reel them in and eat them up.” (Ishmael Leseur, Chapter 25 pg. 143) Friendship, especially at this age, is rather important to anyone going through high school. When there’s a good friendship, there is normally trust. This sense of trust is needed in order to feel safe to talk about things to you friends that you cant with others. If there’s any significant positives of school life, it’s the friendships you can make along the way. However, sometimes life in school isn’t always good and other factors come into view. An example of a negative impact is when Ishmael faces of With Barry Bagsley, the schools notorious …show more content…

Many characters in “don’t call me Ishmael” have their own interesting features about them. This is rather similar to real life. Each one of the characters are stereo types of your average high school adolescents. For example, “If it hadn’t been my terrible fate to end up as Ishmael Leseur, then none of the disasters of my life would have happened and today I would be a happy normal teenager, like everyone else my age.” (Ishmael Leseur, Chapter 4 pg. 15) Almost every teenager to ever walk to face of the earth has thought this at least once in their lives. Another great example is an accurate depiction of what high school romance feels like. This is shown when Ishmael says, “Kelly Faulkner laughed, and her beautiful pale eyes melted my heart like ice cream in a microwave till all that remained was an awful empty feeling. That’s when I knew. Nothing would happen between us. I’d been kidding myself. It just wasn’t possible for eyes as beautiful as that to see anyone as ordinary as me.” (Ishmael Leseur, Chapter 40 pg. 228) This is another perfect display of the adolescent mind and how it feels to have a crush. These are only a few of the examples that could be put into place in an argument like

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758 Words | 4 Pages

Don’t Call Me Ishmael Analytical Essay Ishmael Leseur is the main character in “Don’t Call Me Ishmael” a book by Michael Gerard Bauer. As a young boy, he courageously stepped up to year nine only to be bullied for his name, embarrassed in front of his first love and to become a social outcast. This leads to him naming year nine the toughest, the weirdest, the most embarrassingly awful and best year of his life. One of the ways Ishmael refers to year 9 is the toughest year of his life.

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1100 Words | 5 Pages

The most hated plot in America is the underdog’s demise- the empathetic pain of scrutiny, and the failure we all miss to escape. The scrawny, glasses-wearing outsider is often the underdog, the hero we all cheer for. The one who makes all the refinements in a society that is stagnant to change. And his most successful storytelling, or retelling, is that in the setting of high school. He walks awkwardly down the hall with his shoulders slightly hunched inward and mouth slightly ajar.

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800 Words | 4 Pages

His group ends up running into the rebels once more, in this settlement we see them lining people up, not particularly violent yet, but Ishmael already reports “struggling to avoid fainting.” We see this stemming off his baseline reaction, but we see this change since the recruitment of children was very common at that point especially for teenage boys. This is a posing threat for Ishmael and his crew, which is why they must keep moving. This pressure caused Ishmael to have violent, self harm thoughts such as when he “looked at the blades of the machetes and thought about how much it would hurt to be chopped into one.” This is when violence is first seen as non horrific and as a passing thought.

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467 Words | 2 Pages

Don’t call me Ishmael! Introduction Self-esteem and self-image is a common issue that our teenagers suffer from. ‘Don’t call me Ishmael’ written by Michael Gerard Baver is about a a boy named Ishmael Leseur. He has low self-esteem and low self-image, as Ishmael said on page ‘5’ “In fact, if brains were cars, prue would be a Rolls Royce while I would be a Goggomobil up on blocks with half it’s engine missing.”

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677 Words | 3 Pages

“Don’t Call Me Ishmael”, written by Michael Gerard Bauer is a humorous novel that interacts with the readers especially young readers by exploring what high school is like for those who are being bullied and harassed but it also explores different stages of how friendships first develops. The protagonist who is a 9th grader named Ishmael Lesseur is sticking to the shadows and staying out of everyone’s way especially Barry Bagsley who has target Ishmael and has been harassing him since first day of year 8 at St Daniels Boys Collage. Throughout the book Ishmael struggles with identifying who he is and what he is worth. Michael Gerard Bauer has added sarcasm, irony, puns, embarrassing and humorous moments in the book to keep all the readers engrossed

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501 Words | 3 Pages

  Ishmael was threatened and forced to join the army of Sierra Leone at the age of twelve. By that time he was a killing machine. Ishmael describes his experiences of

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507 Words | 3 Pages

Ishmael's great ability to notice his surroundings and use what he has around him is a huge reason he was able to survive. If he wasn’t perceptive during the times he spent alone, he would not have survived. Also, Ishmael used the branches from the trees to keep him safe. One way it kept him safe was by keeping him from predators, and he was able to eat the fruit from the tree. The last quote that shows Ishmael is resourceful is, ¨We loaded the supplies in plastic bags, and the six of us went to the nearest market, where we sold them to a vendor¨ (Beah 145).

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3430 Words | 14 Pages

Gene's profound affection for Finny becomes both a haven of comfort and a breeding ground for internal turmoil, as envy and resentment permeate their relationship. Through this examination, Knowles unveils the profound impact that love can have on life, shaping identities and influencing choices made. Through Gene's admiration for Finny and the homoerotic undertones of their relationship, it’s apparent how love can be both a source of comfort and a source of conflict. By exploring the complexities of love with allegories, Knowles offers a nuanced portrayal of the human experience and the challenges faced as emotions are navigated. Knowles' exploration of love in A Separate Peace offers insights into the human condition.

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690 Words | 3 Pages

Many teenagers often ask themselves who they are and what they believe. As they search for an answer, they slowly begin to build their identity. The principles that underlie the universe of obligation allows adolescents to continue to find their identity. Because of this, impressions or previous stereotypes conceived then usually stays with them until adulthood. Elie Wiesel’s Night and Helen Fein’s Universe of Obligation helps allows teens to understand the world around them.

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1508 Words | 7 Pages

In the book, Ishmael’s morals reflect that of a loss of innocence. The first example is when Ishamaels group raids a group of rebels and their lieutenant gives them the challenge to see who can kill the fastest. Ishmael confesses, “We were supposed to slice their throats on the corporal’s command. The person whose prisoner died quickest would win the contest. We had our bayonets out and were supposed to look in the faces of the prisoners as we took them out of this world” (124).

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663 Words | 3 Pages

Most people consider adolescence as a peaceful time period in life but that is far from the truth. Adam Bagdasarian’s short story “Popularity” is about a boy who struggles to fit in and all he wants to be is popular. “Hanging Fire” by Audre Lorde is a short story about a girl who has multiple insecurities while dealing with them alone. “Going Steady” by Adam Bagdasarian is a short story about a boy who struggles to express his real feelings when in a romantic relationship. Adolescence is a time full of fights and no one can escape its pain because the fight for popularity and feeling insecure, while feeling alone can often be challenging for teens.

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1199 Words | 5 Pages

High school isn’t necessarily the best four years of everyone’s life. In a short time the audience was shown the complicated endeavors many teenagers either overcome or become wrapped up in. Although Brian is extremely successful in his academics he struggles deep beneath his skin with extensive pressure and societal acceptance. Brian Johnson is one example of someone who was almost defeated by the difficult

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1566 Words | 7 Pages

During our lives we all need to trust somebody and to be trusted . From the very early age we realize what trust means; parents are the first people who makes us understand that notion. But they are not the only people who we learn trust from, as schools have a great role in teaching it to us as well. We trust out teachers, school principals and they trust on us and our parents. That is how we establish community build on trustworthy relationship.

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2332 Words | 10 Pages

While most adults fear peer pressure, it has been noted that most peers help adolescents make better choices instead of poor ones. (K.S. Berger, 2014) Peers had a huge role in The Breakfast Club, when Brian asked what would happen Monday and if they would all still be friends Claire broke his heart by saying she probably wouldn’t acknowledge him more or less. The reason Claire made this statement is because she was afraid of what her friends would say or how they would perceive her being friends with Brian.

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780 Words | 4 Pages

This because she is a capricious protagonist who can be perceived as utterly, unstable and unreliable. In one passage she cries and feels pity for herself, and in the following she expresses maternal compassion and care for others. Alice’s constant changes in size are puzzling for her. She seems to struggle in order to comprehend her identity, but the various oscillations in size and in life phases cause considerable confusion on her. The concept of identity can be also associated to an adolescent’s socio-emotional development.

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