Essay: “My Ishmael” – Daniel Quinn chapters 1 – 17

Chapter 1: Hello There
The novel begins with the narrator describing her personal life and how it played into a pivotal moment in her life when she was twelve. One day as she was gathering up the newspaper, she noticed an ad “TEACHER seeks pupil. Must have an earnest desire to save the world. Apply in person.” The narrator thought the ad was odd, as it seemed like a help-wanted ad, like the teacher needed the pupil and not the other way around. But still she wanted to apply as she wanted to be useful and had the desire to save the world.
Chapter 2: Room 105
The next morning, the narrator makes a trip downtown to room 105 in the Fairfield building. She walks into room 105 only to find an empty zoo, as she walks up to the glass separating the two rooms, she sees a huge gorilla. Looking closer she sees a poster behind the gorilla, it read: “WITH MAN GONE, WILL THERE BE HOPE FOR GORILLA?” When the narrator begins to think of that question, she believes that there will be hope for gorilla and to save the world would mean to save the gorillas. But then suddenly a question pops in her head, “But not saving people?” She looks at the gorilla, and the gorilla looks back at her in a knowing way, and she quickly runs out of the room. Once she is outside the building she realizes that gorilla had telepathically communicated with her.
Chapter 3: I Take on the Ape
The narrator walks back into the room, after figuring out that the ape is the teacher. She tries to persuade the ape to accept her as a pupil as he believe she is too young, only a child, and could not understand what he wanted to teach her. But determined to become the pupil, the narrator tells the ape that she will be his pupil and won’t take no for an answer.
Chapter 4: We Lurch to the Starting Line
The gorilla gives in accepting her as his pupil, then he goes to introduce himself as Ishmael. Ishmael process to ask the narrator her story and explains that he is a maieutic teacher, “[someone who] helps bring into the light ideas that have been growing inside his pupils.” Ishmael asks Julie Gerchack, the narrator, why she is so adamant about being his pupil. The narrator nulls over Ishmael’s question and begins to talk about all the things destroying earth and its inhabitants. Not being able to convey all her feelings, the narrator begins to recreate her daydream for Ishmael.
Chapter 5: The Daydream
In her daydream, Julie shows interest in the same ad and decides to pursue the job offer, arriving at Room 105. Inside Room 105 is a normal office room occupied by a man and a woman who are packing boxes in order to leave the office area. When Julie asks them about the ad, they were not aware that it was still running, yet nonetheless the man and the woman were interested in Julie and did not mind that she was young child or a girl. They asked her if she was willing to leave for years, maybe even decades. With no hesitation Julie immediately jumped at the offer and stated that she was ready right at that moment. They left Room 105 and made a trip to a small military camp, there Julie relizased why she would be gone for so long. She would be exploring the universe, visiting other planets, and bringing back her knowledge to Earth.
Chapter 6: Meet Mother Culture
After hearing Julie’s daydream, Ishmael is delighted to have finally learned what Julie really wants and what she is prepared to learn, but he still has some reservations to be Julie’s teacher. Ishmael brings up the idea of Mother Culture, that every culture has an educational mother, whether it be through talk shows, newspapers, music, cartoons, etc. Every person in the same culture has the same ideas growing inside of them, one might more articulated due to their age but in the end two people from the same culture will eventually end up with the same ideas.
Chapter 7: The People of the Curse
As Ishmael spends more time with Julie he begins to enjoy her presence more and see that she has a very similar character to his own. He asks her why her belief, that someone out there knows how to live sustainably on a world, is reasonable. Julie does not know how to respond Ishmael’s questions and begins to ponder the reasoning behind her belief. She soon realizes that she believes it is normal for a society to be functional and abnormal for one to be dysfunctional and have many conflicts. And that intelligence is what differentiates humans from other animals, that intelligence is what caused all the dysfunctions in a community.
Chapter 8: “Your Culture”
Ishmael begins to explain to Julie what is wrong the people of Julie’s culture, that we have all this intelligence but when it comes to simple matters no one knows the solution. Confused with the term, “people of your culture”, Ishmael explain to Julie who signifies as people of her culture. One example he gives are those who have food under their “lock and key,” that everything is owned or purchased. Another example he gives is the pessimistic view of people, that everyone believes we are doomed, that the human race is flawed and there is nothing anyone can do about it. He continues to explain to Julie why the human race is the way it is and that as his pupil he is able to expand his knowledge. At the end of their discussion, Ishmael tells Julie to spread her newfound knowledge beyond the walls of Room 105 and that she is truly a special person.
Chapter 9: The History of Man in 17 Seconds
Ishmael and Julie begin to discuss the history of humankind coming to the statement that centuries ago people gave up the nomadic life to settle down as farmers. However, Ishmael points out to Julie that there is a lie in that statement. It was not all of humanity, but rather one culture of people. While this one culture settled down as farmers, the rest of humanity continued their nomadic life. The lie is that we believe our actions are humanity’s actions, that we as a majority are humanity itself.
Chapter 10: Tunes & Dancers
To further explain the problems on Earth, Ishmael tells a story about Terpsichore and the “Takers” and “Leavers” of the planet. The “Takers” represent those who keeps their resources under “lock and key” and thrive in technologically advanced societies. The dominating culture that forces people to assimilate or destroys their cultures. “Leavers” are the rest of the population, the ones who continue their old ways, the tribal societies.
Chapter 11: The Parable Examined
Feeling overwhelmed about the story Julie leaves Room 105 in order to get some space and think about the meaning behind the story. When she walks back into Room 105 she is clearly is shaken and learns that Ishmael will have to move out of Room 105 in two weeks. But most importantly she deciphers the significance of the story, that long before the agricultural revolution people have been regrowing the foods they prefer.
Chapter 12: A Visit to Calliope
In their next session, Ishmael decides to tell Julie a story about Calliope. The planet, Calliope, serves as a parallel to Earth and its evolutionary process. He explains the idea of natural selection to Julie, that the successful organisms live and evolve, but the organisms that fail soon become extinct.
Chapter 13: Calliope, Part II
Ishmael tells Julie that he and his other pupil, Alan, are exploring the topic interspecies competition, two or more different species fighting for the same resource. But him and Julie will be exploring and discussing the subject of intraspecies competition, organisms of the same species competing for the same limited resource, and the possible solutions. They also continue their discussion of natural selection and gene pools.
Chapter 14: Intermission
The next session Ishmael discusses the interactions between tribes and introduces the idea of “erratic retaliation.” “Erratic retaliation” is a way of competition without engaging in violent futile combats. Tribes retaliate against other tribes acts of aggression, but do it in such a manner that it is not predictable, but rather well thought and efficient.
Chapter 15: The Fertile Crescent
Ishmael continues his explanation of “erratic retaliation” in the setting of the Fertile Crescent. In this session he explains to Julie the difference between “erratic retaliation” and war. War is with the intent to conquer, “erratic retaliation” is with the intent of revenge and retaliation. “Erratic retaliation” is all about leveling the playing field, to ensure that both tribes or sides to a conflict have the same equal opportunities or resources.
Chapter 16: The Crescent, Part II
Ishmael builds on to the Fertile Crescent story, by adding the “Takers” to the situation with the Hualla, Puala, Cario tribes. Ishmael and Julie start to explore the difference between the “Takers” law and tribal law. Ishmael states that unlike the “Takers” the tribal law does not waste their time by creating laws that people will disobey. Instead of outlawing disobedience, like the “Takers,” the tribes created solutions to undo disobediences, which is why people obeyed and followed the tribal laws.
Chapter 17: A Goddamned Pride Thing
Julie learns that she did not have to board a spaceship and travel the universe to learn how humans can live sustainably on Earth without destroying it, she just had to learn from her ancestors, their past experiences, and their obdurate successes. Ishmael summarizes what he and Julie had discussed in their previous sessions and further explains the role of the “Takers” in society. He compares our culture to a prison, that for as long we conform to our culture’s patterns we will with stay inside the prison. The only way to stop it is by learning something different, by not conforming, and breaking the pattern.
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