Blog 2: Ishmael Discussion

Our group met on January 22nd, from 2:45 to 3:20 pm. The participants include Carly Regan, Abigail Richardson, and Veda Reeves.

 In this week’s group discussion, we spoke about the book “Ishmael”. In my group, some of the points we discussed were about the “why” that Ishmael asks when he was placed in captivity. This was an important point to be understood because Ishmael never asked “why” when he was in the wild. The “why” that Ishmael is asking began when he was placed in captivity in a cage. He began asking this because his life was much more enjoyable when he was in the wild than it was when he was captive in the zoo. This question didn’t arise when he was in the wild because he enjoyed his life and was content with how it was, not being controlled. When he was taken into captivity, he then was asking why his life felt different and less enjoyable, most likely because he was forced to eat tasteless food and had a schedule set by someone else, disregarding his own desires. The "why" he asked also pertained to the fact that he felt lonely, even though there were other gorillas around. Therefore, the "why" that Ishmael was questioning revolved around his purpose in life, it was evident that his question and curiosity stemmed from his captivity and how his life changed drastically. 

Another topic discussed in the group was how the narrator wishes he had seen Ishmael’s ad ages ago. Ishmael then responds by saying that he should’ve gotten to him sooner when he was 17. This could be explained by saying younger people are in a better position to save the world because they are less influenced. The older people get, the less open to different ideas and values they become. Our group determined that a possible reason why the narrator wished he had gotten to Ishmael sooner was because when he finally did get to Ishmael, he already had experiences that shaped his opinion on the world and society, where some of his new ideas were positive and some were negative. Whereas if he had gotten to him sooner, maybe his ideas wouldn't have been so shaped already. Another possible reason why the narrator felt this way could have been due to the fact that younger people are healthier, have less commitments, and more willing to dedicate their lives to world-building causes. Our group discussed how the older people get, the less time they have due to families, work, and other commitments that would prevent them from saving the world. Between the health of a young person and their more optimistic views of the world, they are a much better group of people for changing the world. Thus, this is why the narrator felt the way he did about Ishmael. 

The last topic discussed in the group was about if Ishmael is right to think of humanity in terms of Takers and Leavers. Our group had some conflict with this question, as some of us felt that Ishmael was right to think of humanity in terms of Takers and Leavers, and some of us felt that he was incorrect. One opinion discussed was the idea of leavers and takers is although a good way to look at the world, is also not a practical one. This is because the leavers are described to be peacekeepers and nomadic people, where they only hunt and gather what they need. The takers are described as those who will continue to take and will run out of things to kill, and in turn eventually cause devastating effects on the world. They are described to have extreme greed and shortsightedness. The leavers are viewed upon as primitive savages while the takers are viewed as sophisticated and civilized. After discussing the difference between the two groups, the first opinion in the group was that this isn’t a rational way to view the world, as there are groups of people who are a little bit of both takers and leavers combined. It was also discussed that there are circumstances where some people can't choose which group they want to be, as they are forced to belong to one or the other. This was the first opinion discussed, where our group felt that Ishmael's stone-cold separation of the world is incorrect. The other opinion discussed in the group was that Ishmael was correct in his thinking. This was because some group members felt that this is how the world is today, where the world is very divided. An example used in our group discussion was about political parties and the division that exists between them. Another example used was that there are people who believe religion plays a major role in life, similar to the leavers while there are others who will take more than they need, similar to the takers. The takers feel they are not how they are described, also similar to some people in the world, where there is a divide, and they refuse to acknowledge the problem. Although these are only examples, there are so many more that can prove the divide of the world and show how people fall into the two categories of takers and leavers. Therefore, some group members felt that this is extremely similar to how Ishmael explained the divide between leavers and takers, and therefore felt he is correct with his thinking. This was a great topic for our group because it showed that there are varying views about this book and especially about the idea of the leavers and takers that Ishmael has. This particular question allowed our group to have a productive discussion and opened our eyes to the others' opinion.