Reinterpretation Of Mother Culture In Ishmael, By David Quinn

In the novel, Ishmael, David Quinn describes the difference in evolution between two groups of humans, the Takers and the Leavers. In the well known stories in the book of Genesis, when God created the world, God also created man. According to the Takers, God appointed man as ruler of this world. Ishmael’s reinterpretation of Genesis highlights how the Takers’ story immerged and how they fail to realize the destruction they are causing. Ishmael starts describing the Takers story by defining what a story is and how to enact one. A story is a, “scenario interrelating man, the world, and the gods” (41). Ishmael defines enacting a story as “to live so as to make the story a reality,” (41) or living the story to make it come true. Ishmael describes

Takers have come to the assumption that humans are the main product of evolution and the world was made for them to rule. The narrator states, “my conditioning tells me-Mother Culture tells me-that living in the hands of the gods has got to be a never-ending nightmare of terror and anxiety” (227). This belief has led to catastrophic results like global warming, extinction of animals, and the slow destruction of the Earth. The Takers’ cultural ideal lead them to believe that the gods restrict man to be in complete control, which places themselves equal to or above the gods. Ishmael, a self-proclaimed Leaver, refuses to accept this premise. He explains the main thing wrong with the Takers culture supports them acting against the world and that they don’t even realize

Adam and Eve ignored the rule of the gods, defying their power, and decide to claim that power as their own. The Takers believe that was the start of the ascent above the gods. Ishmael helps the Narrator understand that the Taker culture interpreted the story of Adam and Eve as an ascent unlike the Leavers and the gods that see this as a fall from grace. To accomplish this lesson, Ishmael uses the allusion of the biblical version of the “fall” of Adam and Eve for the Narrator to fully grasp the story in a different light than the allusion the Takers live in. Takers had eaten off the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, which was forbidden from them because no human should have more power than the gods. The Takers believed they needed knowledge of the gods because they felt they were above them. When in reality, the Leavers knew such knowledge couldn’t belong to any life on Earth other than the gods. Ishmael declared “It 's something like this; man was innocent until he discovered the difference between good and evil. When he was no longer innocent of that knowledge he became a fallen creature” (183), which describes the Leavers view of Takers’ culture. Takers fail to see the destruction they are causing the world. They believe the world was made for them and they can do whatever they please, no matter who it