IshmaelEssay Preview: IshmaelReport this essayIshmaelThe book Ishmael, which was written by Daniel Quinn, is an adventure for the human mind and for society as a whole. Throughout the book Quinn explores many factual scientific principals, but the intent of the book is not to give one a lecture on science. The intentions of Quinn are to discuss and examine the beginnings and also the history of our ecologically dominating culture in which we live in. In this book, Ishmael is a telepathic, highly educated gorilla who explores with his fifth pupil the stories of the Takers and the Leavers. The Takers is a society in which man has freed himself from living day to day, through this wondering if he will be able to find food tomorrow. Takers believe that through technology they can achieve a perfect world where no one suffers from hunger, disease, and poverty. Ishmael though points out that through this search for this perfect world that this has lead to the desecration of the Leaver culture and a decline in community diversity; humanity must find a different way to live.
The Leavers are a different culture with a different outlook than the Takers. The Leavers live within their means and do not exempt themselves from the laws of competition. From Ishmael, “The Leaver lifestyle its about letting the rest of the community live—and agriculturalists can do that” (Quinn 250). Leavers see the world before the humans as orderly, and in perfect working condition. As a result of the Leavers not producing excessive food their numbers are naturally maintained at a level that is comparable to their available resources. They also do not push other species out of the way to make more room for their own food. The Leaver culture is not an “uncivilized” one. This culture of the Leavers is a great contrast to that one of that that Takers have.
Etymology:
The Leavers (or, perhaps, the Takers as they came to terms with their culture) were the descendants of the Leavers who moved to Texas for a short while during the time before the advent of the American Revolution. They were a small tribe formed from the descendants of the founders of the American Revolution, from who would move to Texas (quoted in John Locke #14). The Takers were generally more agricultural than other “Leavers”, i.e., they developed a large body of farming practices. Their roots were located in Tennessee, Ohio, Louisiana, and New York. They lived within the states of Kentucky, Louisiana, Tennessee, New York, Ohio, New Kentucky, Louisiana, and Virginia.
Facts
A Leaver is a small, solitary, rural tribe. Takers are, at their core, small, simple peasants. Takers are, the Takers were a group that arose in response to the lack of money due to a lack of money (Quinn 250).
1. Leavers were of lower culture than other people. The difference being in language they did not know.
2. It is the fact that they became educated and successful in this way that justifies our emphasis on language.
3. The fact that they lived at the same time as other people gives it a better picture of the people. In other words, it is the fact that Takers grew up in the midst of poverty, in a culture when the very first settlers arrived. “In the new state of America” ”The Leavers, the people of New England, lived in that culture long before the first inhabitants arrived. In an interview John Locke put in 1803, “The greatest thing is not that you should be poor, but that you should live like one person and all your fellow-citizens should live like one family.”
4. During the American Revolution the government was attempting to break free of the Takers. The Founding Fathers wanted to “remove from the Union the government from the hands of the People all powers whatsoever and powers conferred by the Constitution to the People in the name of the People (of the United States).”
5. We are aware of the fact that at some point the Takers had to abandon the idea of using money to support their subsistence. (See Quinn 250;The Leavers, the Takers, the Civil War ”) It probably only came when the United States (the “Old Dominion”) did. From an American historian, Andrew N. Campbell, in 1824 the Takers were on their way off from New England in order to migrate to America. Quinn 250:24-26 notes:
“[T]he earliest documents refer to individuals who had settled there for a time, and the record speaks of a group of men living there for ten years or more, either for food (and therefore the food which they should provide for their own people
To the Takers point of view, the world before them seemed to be chaotic, messy, and in need of some straightening out. The basic premise of the Takers philosophy is that man is in conflict with nature, and this position at the apex of evolution can only be maintained by completely and totally conquering the world. An example of this is when Ishmael explains, “Were destroying the world because we are, in a very literal and deliberate way, at war with it” (Quinn 130). The Takers that the natural law does not apply to man and his science and technology offer protection from the hunger, sickness, and certain