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Ishmael, a Talking Gorilla

In the book, Ishmael, author Daniel Quinn addresses several social issues from the viewpoint of a talking gorilla named Ishmael. Ishmael's goal in the story is to teach his pupil, a human being, how to save the world. Ishmael and his student spend hours discussing what is wrong with the way humans view the world. According to Ishmael, humans are constantly and unnecessarily destroying animals as well as the Earth's fragile ecosystem.

Ishmael believes that the world is divided into two categories of living things: the Leavers and the Takers. The Takers are Americans, Europeans, and other races that use agriculture as opposed to hunting and gathering their food. The Leavers are animals and people like the Hopi Indians who only kill animals when they need them for food, as opposed to killing for sport or for some other selfish reason. Ishmael thinks that only humans view a herd of animals as something that belongs to the human race as opposed to viewing a herd as something that is part of the family of living things which the earth has

raised and which have a right to he here. For example, Ishmael points out that animals hunt only what they eat but will occasionally "kill in self-defense, or when they merely feel threatened" (126), Ishmael distinguishes this from Taker culture, which kills off everything, believing that "the more competitors you destroy, the more humans you can bring into the world" (132). Ishmael explains that the Takers have been expanding their food supply for the last 10,000 years and thus have also been steadily increasing the human population (135).

Also, Ishmael contends that there are three basic laws which apply to civilization. First, Ishmael believes that "no one species shall make the life of the world it's own "(144). Second, Ishmael says that 'the world was not made for any one species' (145). And, third, Ishmael claims that 'mankind was not needed to bring order into the world" (145)....

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Ishmael, a Talking Gorilla. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 06:31, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1690625.html