Part 8: Sections 1-6 - CliffsNotes.
In the novel Ishmael by Daniel Quinn, Ishmael the gorilla takes on the role of a teacher after placing an ad in the local newspaper calling forth any citizen with a desire to save the world. Eventually he is approached by the narrator who is interested in the ad, and Ishmael begins teaching him all there is to know about the takers and the leavers culture.
Ishmael further describes accumulated a knowledge about what worked well for all people or beings.. Mother culture was an entity of neither good nor evil as Ishmael explains.. Ishmael points out that humanity was imprisoned or are captives of such a notion to consume the world for our benefit.. Word Count: 1176; Approx Pages: 5.
Ishmael and the narrator begin a series of meetings wherein Ishmael helps the narrator understand his cultural history. Ishmael divides humans into two groups: Leavers and Takers. Takers are members of the dominant culture, which sees humans as rulers of the world, whose destiny is to grow without check and dominate first the planet, then the universe, through technological innovations.
The Friends of Ishmael Society is an organization focused on publicizing the work of Daniel Quinn, award-winning author of Ishmael, My Ishmael, Story of B, Beyond Civilization, and other important works. Quinn's writings expose the roots of, and cultural myths behind, the most pressing social and environmental issues facing humanity today. We believe that making Ishmael a household name is one.
Ishmael is a 1992 philosophical novel by Daniel Quinn.The novel examines the hidden cultural biases driving modern civilization and explores themes of ethics, sustainability, and global catastrophe.Largely framed as a Socratic conversation between two characters, Ishmael aims to expose that several widely accepted assumptions of modern society, such as human supremacy, are actually cultural.
Ishmael points out that all cultures believe in their own myths, and tells the narrator to record the story of his culture. The tape recorder serves much the same purpose as the Zen koan. The recorder by itself doesn’t give any new information or wisdom to its user, but instead it acts as a kind of “neutral space” that allows the speaker to analyze his own feelings.
However, he insists that this story involves facts and can hence not be considered a myth. Ishmael agrees that the story contains facts, but argues that the way the facts are arranged are what make it a myth, and that the narrator has accepted this arrangement from Mother Culture.