The Lesson of Quinn's Ishmael
There are some books that you can just sit back and enjoy, just let the authors words wash over you and, most importantly, you don't have to think. And then there's Daniel Quinn's Ishmael.
The novel Ishmael, "an adventure of the mind and spirit," opens with a disillusioned and depressed man in search of a teacher, and not just any teacher. He wants someone to show him what life is all about. And so he finds Ishmael, a meiutic teacher (one who acts as a midwife to his pupils, in bringing ideas to the surface), who turns out to be a large telepathic gorilla of extraordinary intelligence. The largest part of the book consists of their conversations, in which Ishmael discusses how things got to be this way (in terms of human culture, beginning with the agricultural revolution). Ishmael shows the narrator exactly what doesn't work in our society: the reasoning that there is only one right way to live, and that that way is with humans conquering the planet. Daniel Quinn points out that many other cultures, most notably those who have a tribal lifestyle, work,
They are Sarah Grimke and Frederick Douglass. Sarah was born in 1792 and Frederick was born in 1818. These two individuals are very devoted to abolishing slavery and finding true equal rights but ironically, other than their gender and race difference, they both come from unique backgrounds. Sarah was white and born into a large wealthy family. Her father owned a plantation with slaves and Sarah grew to hate the abuse that the slaves had to endure. She was deeply religious and felt that slavery was against her moral beliefs. She speaks a lot from the bible and believes that men and women were created equal. After the death of her father she moved out of South Carolina and moved up North to pursue a role as an abolitionist and women’s rights activist.
Ishmael starts his journey with a will to escape and survive the civil war of Sierra Leone in order to reunite with his mom, dad, and younger siblings, who fled their home when his village was attacked by rebels. Having only his older brother, who he escaped with, and a few friends by his side Ishmael is scared, but hopeful. When the brothers are captured by rebels, Ishmael’s belief in survival is small, as indicated by his fallible survival tactics when he “could hear the gunshots coming closer…[and] began to crawl farther into the bushes” (Beah 35). Ishmael wants to survive, but has little faith that he can. He is attempting to survive by hiding wherever he can- even where the rebels can easily find him. After escaping, Ishmael runs into a villager from his home tells him news on the whereabouts of his family. His optimism is high when the villager, Gasemu, tells Ishmael, “Your parents and brothers wil...
Up until and during the mid -1800’s, women were stereotyped and not given the same rights that men had. Women were not allowed to vote, speak publically, stand for office and had no influence in public affairs. They received poorer education than men did and there was not one church, except for the Quakers, that allowed women to have a say in church affairs. Women also did not have any legal rights and were not permitted to own property. Overall, people believed that a woman only belonged in the home and that the only rule she may ever obtain was over her children. However, during the pre- Civil war era, woman began to stand up for what they believed in and to change the way that people viewed society (Lerner, 1971). Two of the most famous pioneers in the women’s rights movement, as well as abolition, were two sisters from South Carolina: Sarah and Angelina Grimké.
In 1838 Sarah had a booked published, Letters on the Equality of Sexes, which linked the rights of slaves to the rights of women.
Rycenga, Jennifer. A greater awakening: women's intellect as a factor in early abolitionist movements, 1824-1834. N/A: Jennifer Rycenga, 2005.
“When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies, but the pack survives.” (Martin). Wolves and humans are very similar; we are both highly social pack animals who are able to activate what Jonathan Haidt refers to as the “hive switch” in his book “The Righteous Mind”. This switch is what allows a single being to make a sacrifice for the greater whole. All college freshmen should read chapter 10 which is aptly named “The Hive Switch”. This chapter would give them valuable insight into how to achieve happiness and perform in groups, necessary skills for college. It will also help them become better people in the outside world. Haidt uses military analyses, and his own experiences to portray this information. He encourages the reader to just let go and become a part of the whole.
Women have always been fighting for the rights of others and rights for themselves; they’ve stated time after time that everyone should be equal. Equality in America meant everything to women; equality between whites and blacks, Native Americans and whites, and women and all of America. “There is a great stir about colored men getting their rights, but not a word about the colored women; and if colored men get their rights, and not colored women theirs, you see the colored men will be masters over the women,” (DuPont 12; Lewis). Passages such as the pervious sentence are just a few of many that express women’s feelings towards women’s rights and suffrage. However, women did want changes in rights for all people, but with women being women it caused a problem with people taking them seriously. In this research paper, I will be addressing three women who were abolitionists and/or activists.
Berkin, Carol. "Angelina and Sarah Grimke: Abolitionist Sisters." The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Mar. 2014
In the early 1900’s, women and African Americans did not have any rights. When standing up for their rights they were sometimes punished for their views. It was also undesirable for women to speak in public. However, that did not stop Sarah and Angelina Grimke, because they believed in their rights and that they could change these social statuses. They were the first prominent female abolitionists. They faced hardships like sexism and traitors because they were both women and against slavery.
During the early 1900’s, women and slaves in the United States were fighting for their freedom in society. These brave slaves and women stood up against the laws of that time to earn their rights. Many of these activists became well known during this time, and now in textbooks. One woman stood up for the rights of both women and people of color, Sojourner Truth was born into slavery and escaped after the fight for abolitionism had begun. Sojourner had seen the hardships of being a woman and a slave in her long life. Experiencing prejudice from being a slave and a woman, Sojourner Truth spoke out with enthusiastic speeches on woman rights and slavery in conventions
In the “Iks” by Lewis Thomas, the author describes how a small tribe of hunters from northern Uganda called the Iks tries to survive after being forced by the government to give up their homes and living area and move to a poor hills and become farmers. Society is extremely harsh towards the Iks and this causes them to rebel and become abnormal. The Iks were a bunch of selfish people who only cared about themselves, left elders to starve and die, and did not cared about the children. They didn’t share things with each other and they find joy in the other’s misfortunes. Anthropologist were sent to observe the Iks, an anthropologist described the Iks to be ill- mannered fashion. Over the two years he had studied there, he was constantly being harassed and disgraced. After he had published his book, he wrote how he despised the Iks. Thomas then went on to say that he now sees similar behaviors implying on nations and cities compared to the Iks making points saying that the Iks share common characteristics of greed, cruezl, and selfish just like different nations fighting against each other.
Quinn gains a unique perspective on humanity through the main character of the novel, Ishmael. Ishmael is a gorilla. And Ishmael is a teacher who communicates with humans telepathically. On the surface, this hardly seems to be a character who would appear in a serious book; more likely a children's story, a fable, or perhaps a bad science fiction novel. Yet Ishmael is none of these, and Ishmael is a strong character, with a powerful intellect and a serious purpose. The character of Ishmael needs to be non-human in order to be effective. Looking in on civilization from the outside gives him a perspective from which to criticize humanity without hypocrisy. To hear the oppressor repent is not nearly so effective as to hear the voice of the oppressed demand freedom and restitution.
Jared Diamond, in his movie “ Germs, Guns, and Steel” explained that civilizations that were able to domesticate animals and plants, were mor...
George R.R. Martin once said, “A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies… The man who never reads lives only one.” For centuries, books have transformed readers into someone else and transported them to different worlds. In my fourteen years, I have fought dragons, saved the world, and survived World War II. I have become others who were anywhere from a toddler to an adult. I have gone to wizarding school and a summer camp for demigods all because of books. Something magical happens when I open bound pages of words and begin to read. Books inspire me because they each open up a new world of experiences and feelings that will last with me forever.
Throughout the past several years major corporate scandals have rocked the economy and hurt investor confidence. The largest bankruptcies in history have resulted from greedy executives that “cook the books” to gain the numbers they want. These scandals typically involve complex methods for misusing or misdirecting funds, overstating revenues, understating expenses, overstating the value of assets or underreporting of liabilities, sometimes with the cooperation of officials in other corporations (Medura 1-3). In response to the increasing number of scandals the US government amended the Sarbanes Oxley act of 2002 to mitigate these problems. Sarbanes Oxley has extensive regulations that hold the CEO and top executives responsible for the numbers they report but problems still occur. To ensure proper accounting standards have been used Sarbanes Oxley also requires that public companies be audited by accounting firms (Livingstone). The problem is that the accounting firms are also public companies that also have to look after their bottom line while still remaining objective with the corporations they audit. When an accounting firm is hired the company that hired them has the power in the relationship. When the company has the power they can bully the firm into doing what they tell them to do. The accounting firm then loses its objectivity and independence making their job ineffective and not accomplishing their goal of honest accounting (Gerard). Their have been 379 convictions of fraud to date, and 3 to 6 new cases opening per month. The problem has clearly not been solved (Ulinski).