Mistakes of Mankind Exposed in Quinn's Ishmael

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Mistakes of Mankind Exposed in Quinn's Ishmael

Most humans are confused. Some know what the problem is, but most

haven't even realized something is wrong. The novel Ishmael by Daniel Quinn

is an attempt to bring about awareness of the mistakes that people have

made and have continued to repeat through the course of human history. At

its core, the story has two main characters: a teacher and a student. The

teacher represents a solution to the destructive road that mankind has been

traveling down and the student represents us: eager to mend our ways but

apprehensive about the changes that will occur. The lesson of this book is

that each one of us can make changes that will directly enhance our

personal lives, and begin the great task of changing how all humans view

and live out their lives.

The wise and almost omnipotent teacher that had the task of

changing the course of human history is, as one might imagine, a very

special person. He had been watching us for a long time and was ready to

share his knowledge of the human race and its inherent flaws. This "savior"

just happened to be a gorilla named Ishmael. It was for that reason that a

very special student was required to learn his lessons. "Teacher seeks

pupil. Must have an earnest desire to save the world. Apply in person"(4).

This rather awkward request appeared in the personals section of the

newspaper. Because the bulk of the novel is narrated through the first-

person perspective of the man who answers this ad and becomes the

enlightened student, the reader never learns his name. However, he/she is

exposed to many important aspects of the student and his motivations. One

learns that decades ago he had actually been looking for such a teacher

during the children's revolt of the sixties and seventies but finally

concluded that no ne existed and that the new era was never going to begin.

This realization had embittered him to the point that seeing such a blatant

ad (in the newspaper of all places!) after he had given up hope outraged

him. His motivation for answering the ad was actually a simple desire to

find out what crook was behind the outrageous request so that he could put

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