Authors of different books available for reading are always motivated by a certain happening, feature, personality and many others such they talk about some imaginary or real happenings somewhere. The book Ishmael “An Adventure of the Mind and Spirits” is one of the interesting books that I have read under Daniel Quinn. This paper will specifically focus on the author’s ideas regarding the book Ishmael “An Adventure of the Mind and Spirits.” Daniel Quinn wrote this book by utilizing a narrative style. But after carefully going through the novel, I discovered that the main purpose of this book was in a didactic way. The fact that the world is comprised of two distinct cultures of individuals (the leavers and the takers) formed the fundamental message of the Ishmael book. The overview of the book clearly describes the takers as those associated with the “civilized” society even though it later turns out to be clear that civilization is not the matter (Quinn, 1995).
Overview of the Book
Multiple Biblical references have been utilized by Quinn in the Ishmael book to help describe how the “Taker” culture has become so predominant. Among Quinn’s main ideas is that the issue with the Takers (humans) is that they ought to conclude that they are the ones who possess knowledge when they had to eat from the tree of the gods. According to biblical reference in the book of Genesis, is the knowledge of good and evil and takers consider themselves that they know who should live and die. Takers do several things that are not routinely done in nature. We exterminate our competitors (through the war on others especially people from Leaver culture who inhabit our land). We destroy our competitors’ food to make room for our own (through the destruction of other tribes and the killing of plants and animals that threaten our food supply) (Quinn, 1995). And we deny our competitors access to food (we claim large areas of land for ourselves and hoard the products of our harvests.)
The Takers believe that the world was made for them: they can do anything they want with the world and the laws of nature do not apply to them. Ultimately this is what has led us to where we are now, facing the destruction of our planet by our hands. In the book of Ishmael courtesy of a teacher in a gorilla and a lost man, the author designates that “no any one species should consider itself as the only one created for this.” Because “any species that relieves itself from the competition rules ends up destroying the society in a move aimed to support its development (Quinn, 1995).” Ishmael while teaching its pupil recalled the Biblical reference when Jesus Christ stated that no one should care for tomorrow since God is there with them. Ishmael internalized Christ’s admonition by providing an example to its pupil about the birds of the air. Ishmael said that the birds do not sow nor reap as men do but they are perfectly taken care of by God. Ishmael challenged its pupil that God can do the same for humans.
Ishmael instructs his pupil that the way to do this is not through laws, but by changing people’s minds. We “must do away with the fruit of that forbidden tree and undeniably and continually abandon the idea that “we” know the one that should live and the one that should die in this world.” Ishmael isn’t arguing that we return to a prehistoric hunter-gatherer society. Instead, he says that our task is to reach forward and invent new ways to obey the laws of the natural community, new ways to make room for all species. It has become trendy to talk about going green and saving the planet, and I’m sure that we all feel like we’ve heard the lecture before. Quinn recognizes this, and his fictional sage asserts that “Individuals require more than to be reprimanded, to be transformed to feel guilty and stupid. Individuals need more than a vision of doom, an image of both themselves and the world that inspires them (Quinn, 1995).”
My Opinion of the Book
After reading this particular book “Ishmael,” I have come to terms with many ideas, lessons as well as a bit of history. As a Muslim and a religious person and having the knowledge of the Bible, I can now clearly figure out the real reflection of some of the Biblical stories and teachings. This book has borrowed much of its content from the Biblical context especially the story of humanity and animals.
I think the author Quinn must have extensively read much of the Biblical texts about humanity and its superiority over other creatures in the world. That is the reason why the author decided to bring out the ideas of the “Takers” who in my opinion are humans since they are intelligent and “Leavers” implying other creatures like animals who have got no brains as humans. I think the Ishmael book tries to bring out the idea of God, the world, humans and their worldly perceptions and other creatures.
Since the beginning of life, it is obvious that humans are the ones that have transformed the world in so many ways. Ishmael is acting like a gorilla to teach a man about how to save the world proof to me that “Leavers” are other creatures and not humans. But again, when I internalize further, I came to the conclusion that the story was talking about two different set of God’s creations with different intelligence capacity. Concerning the book of Genesis when Adam and Eve went against God’s command and ate the forbidden fruit, the book described that as the birth of knowledge to humanity who initially taught that they were intelligent. In my opinion, that story seems philosophical rather than religious linked. The book just wanted to demonstrate the intelligence of a man to conquer the world claiming that God had no intention of testing a man’s self-control with the forbidden tree but rather his intelligence.
My Reaction to the Book and its Relevance in My Life
Having thoroughly read the book, what I can say is that the real happenings that humans are experiencing and suffering is exclusively explored in the teachings by Ishmael. The issue about the fall of man got my attention, and I critically thought about it. Ishmael had quoted that “the leavers are the ones that describe the origin of the takers.” Man has depended on other creatures for survivals such as the animals, plants, trees for medicinal purposes and so on. But what caused all this dependency? I have figured out the story of the Garden of Eden where man despite being commanded not to eat the fruit of knowledge and evil, went ahead and ate it. The fall of the takers began there when God threw Adan and Eve out of the garden of Eden. The relevance of this book in my life is to prepare me for the bad happenings since a man is destined to fall at one point in time.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the book of Ishmael teaches humans about knowledge and intelligence. Since humans are the only creatures that can speak or control themselves, the book had to utilize a speaking gorilla in Ishmael to teach man about what the “leavers” partake of them. In a real sense, it is impossible to believe that a gorilla can speak, but again this is a story and not a real happening. It is somehow imaginative than factual just to bring out the idea of humans viewing themselves as the conquerors of the world, and they are the ones that build it. Several Biblical references that are incorporated in the book implies that the author wanted to expound some of these teachings from the Biblical point of view to the real-world point of view. This is due to the manner in which the story develops from its plot and the chronological of events that happened in the Bible particularly in the beginning of the world in the book of Genesis.
Reference
Quinn, D. (1995). Ishmael “An Adventure of the Mind and Spirits.” New York: Bantam Books.
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