Ishmael - An Adventure of Mind and Spirit - Essay Example

s the assignment was due Ishmael Introduction A thought that is ‘seeded’ into an mind is outputted in his or hers work. That ‘seeding’ of thought could be initiated or influenced by the ‘system’, in which the author lived. That is, the author observing the culture, society, etc, which existed in his/her life time or before his/her lifetime, will ‘interpret’ it in a written form. So, written works including fictions will be constructed by the authors using the society and culture of his/her times, as the subject matter. When the author does that, he/she will be able to bring the real societal happenings into fiction. Normally, human’s lives are composed of situations and incidents which sounds interesting, ‘injuring’ etc, etc. And, writers’ job is to bring these situations and incidents into a written form, using the fictionalized version of the real life happenings as the base. Daniel Quinn was one such author who wrote novels, basing on the “system” that existed in his times. So, this paper will analyze how and why Daniel Quinn in his work, Ishmael: An Adventure of Mind and Spirit used a talking ape to be the teacher, for solving or disentangling the various dilemmas that seems to have crept into his mind or the mind of the unnamed narrator. Background Ishmael: An Adventure of Mind and Spirit, was actually written by Daniel Quinn in1977 as a collage of articles, but got congregated and published as a novel only in 1992. It even won the Turner Tomorrow Fellowship, a literary competition, which awards works of fiction that brings out positive and constructive solutions to the problems that is plaguing our world. The book centers on the interaction that takes place between an unnamed and disillusioned narrator and a knowledgeable and wise gorilla named Ishmael. As the gorilla has the ability to communicate telepathically with the narrator, the book contains a lot of philosophical dialogues that takes place between the dilemmatic man and the assuring gorilla. Ishmael as the Teacher As per the contents of the story, Ishmael, the gorilla was rescued from a traveling show and in course of its existence in this world has developed intellectually. Its intellectual level is up to the level or even more than the level of the human intelligence, so much so, that it turns out to be a teacher for the narrator. Under the context of scientific knowledge, gorillas are considered to be a cerebral animal because of its closeness to the humans, particularly the similarities between its chromosomes and the human chromosomes. “Several authors have favoured the idea that gorillas are more closely related to humans than are any other ape…chromosomes of humans, chimpanzees and gorillas are very similar indeed” (Groves).That is, Gorilla’s chromosomes have a lot of similarities with the human chromosomes and it is proved by various scientific experiments and researches. Various scientists or researchers have brought out the similarities in chromosomal alignment that exists between Gorilla and humans. “According to the two most detailed comparisons (Yunis & Prakash 1982; Dutrillaux & Couturier 1986), major structural changes are few; humans and gorillas have only 12 points of reorganization, although there are some minor differences as well - mainly, the greater amount of telomeric heterochromatin in the gorilla” (Groves). So, these chromosomal similarities between gorilla and the Humans clearly reflect in its physical and mental makeup. Mental makeup is the key because, gorillas are proved to exhibit somewhat advanced thought process, when compared to other animals and this fact only seems to have been put forward by Daniel Quinn in his work. That is, because of Gorilla’s higher thought process and also because of the tag of being an ‘outsider’ (a non-human species), Quinn hypothetically thought Gorilla as the perfect candidate to play the role of the teacher to solve human problems. In the starting pages of the book Ishmael: An Adventure of Mind and Spirit, Quinn features an advertisement, “Teacher seeks pupil. Must have earnest desire to save the world. Apply in person.” (Quinn, 2). When the narrator comes across this advertisement, he becomes curious and immediately starts off to find out the person who has given this advertisement. He is in for a big and shocking surprise, when he finds out that the teacher is actually a gorilla who can communicate with him telepathically and also help him solve all his as well as the world’s problems. “He finds a very unique teacher. What kind of teacher would be able to see the lies that everyone else has missed? Who would have both the perspective and the ability to communicate necessary? A telepathic gorilla.” (everything-is-connected.net). Telepathically in the sense, as gorillas do not have a well developed vocal chord or other vocal organs, Quinn understanding this shortfall, creates Ishmael as a gorilla with the ability of extra sensory perception. With the narrator being a disturbed and disoriented loser, who is looking for a complete cure, the gorilla appears to be the ultimate panacea. The unnamed narrator appears to be a Baby Boomer, who was brought up in the troubled period of 1960s and so is longing for a mentor, who can cure all his problems as well as that of the earth. In this scenario only, Ishmael makes its entry. Ishmael appears to be the perfect teacher, who can give solutions to all the problems because of its capabilities. That is, Ishmael appears to be around sixty years of age and this long existence in this world, makes it the perfect candidate to analyze the different aspects of life in different periods of time. As Ishmael could have seen all the behavioral changes in humans throughout the early part of the 20th century, it could corner in on the plausible causes of human sufferings and thereby provide solutions for it. The other important attribute that Ishmael is endowed with is its liberal educational qualifications. Being a traveling gorilla as part of the traveling shows, Ishmael seems to have acquired good amount of educational knowledge at different places, while on the journey. “Ishmael has, over a sixty-odd year long lifetime, perfected the ability to communicate mentally with humans, undertaken a broad liberal education, and four times already tried but failed to teach a human how to save the world” (bookrags.com). The other reason why Ishmael appears to be the perfect teacher is its tag of being an ‘outsider’. As mentioned above, the term ‘outsider’ in this context denotes the non-human nature. That is, if one wishes to analyze human characteristics and also human problems, it has to be viewed from outside perspective to do a fair analysis. Only if an ‘outsider’ analyzes the human problems, it will be of authentic nature and importantly without any biases and skewed perspectives. “It is a general rule that any particular culture can only be understood by someone outside of it - a neutral observer, unaffected by prejudice or indoctrination. This is the reasoning behind Quinns choice of a gorilla named Ishmael as the main character of this novel, who conducts a series of dialogues analyzing the whole of civilization itself”(Schiach). So, in this story, Quinn uses gorilla as the ‘outsider’ because of its ‘non-human nature’ but at the same time human like thought processes and in the ‘fictional sense’ sixty years experience and education. Importantly, Quinn hopes that this outsider tag will work favorably, as the Ishmael, the gorilla with its education and experience will be able to analyze the human situation, the problems and come up with helpful solutions. Ishmael was able to do the constructive work of a teacher, as it comes up with many feasible and effective solutions based on the theory that humanity belongs to the planet rather than vice versa The problem that was cornered in by Ishmael, while discussing with the narrator appears to be with the civilization. That is, problems for the world people appear to be in the basic tenet of civilization. With civilization exhibiting different perspectives in course of time and with the addition of many new people, the solution appears to be both simple and at the same time complex. According to Ishmael, the problem with civilization can be solved, if the human participation and positive role in the ecosystem can be optimized. By preserving the human niche in the ecosystem, Ishmael expects the humans to go beyond civilization and thereby solve the inbuilt problems of civilization. Also, Ishmael and the narrator trace back these problems with civilization back to the agricultural revolution and thus offer solutions in that aspect also. That is, Quinn views agriculture as one of the major panacea for many of the problems afflicting the civilization. Here also, Quinn uses gorilla as an outsider looking in and perceiving the reality of civilization - of cultures using intensive agriculture to dominate the world. Also, as part of the solutions, Ishmael focuses on how intensive agriculture must be used to raise the population density to such a point that civilization occurs (Schaich). So, throughout this work of fiction, inspired by real life events, Daniel Quinn puts the spotlight on the gorilla, giving it the role of a teacher, who can solve various problems. That is, Ishmael, the gorilla appears to be intellectually and emotionally superior and with its life long experience and education has the ability to corner in on the issues that is afflicting the humans and thereby suggests solutions. Works Cited Bookrags.com. Style: Point of View. 16 May 2008 http://www.bookrags.com/studyguide-ishmael/style.html everything-is-connected.net. Ishmael: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit by Daniel Quinn. 16 May 2008 http://www.everything-is-connected.net/Ishmael.html Groves, Colin. Another View of Gorilla Relationships. Gorilla Journal. Vol. 32, June 2006. Schaich, David. Ishmael: A Critical Analysis of Civilization. March 8, 2002. 16 May 2008 http://www.amazon.com/review/RNWYQFRHYSLXS Quinn, Daniel. Ishmael: An Adventure of Mind and Spirit. Bantam; Reissue edition.1995. Read More