Honors World Studies English - Ishmael Quest

Mead Test

What does man believe?

he must conquer and rule the world

What does the narrator believe will happen when humans progress?

the Earth will either be destroyed or become the paradise man believes it was meant to be. If the latter, man might progress to conquer the entire universe

Why will man not find paradise?

warfare, brutality, poverty, injustice, corruption and tyranny

What are man's flaws?

stupidity, greed, destructiveness, and shortsightedness

Why are Takers so interested in prophers?

there is no objectively satisfying answer unless a prophet or similar authority provides one

Two conclusions of Taker mythology

One: there is something fundamentally wrong with humans. Two: there is no certain knowledge about how to live.

Mother Cultures explanation for how things came to be

The world was given to man to be paradise, but man has destroyed it because he is fundamentally flawed. If he knew how to live, he might be able to correct this course, but the lack of such knowledges makes such a correction unlikely. Because there is nothing to be done, we continue to head towards catastrophe. This sense of despair, Ishmael claims, is why many rely so heavily on drugs, alcohol, and television, or suffer insanity and suicidal thoughts.

Ishmael's opinion on takers

Taker culture is in freefall, doomed to crash once it has depleted the planet of its biological and environmental resources.

Why did the narrator miss a few meeting with ishmael at the end of their discussions

He got caught up in personal matter: an unwanted visitor, car trouble, deadlines for his impending book - for a few days

what happened to ishmael after the narrator couldn't make a few meetings

He was traveling in a carnival

What happened when the narrator got enough cash to buy ishmael from the circus owner?

He died from pneumonia

What did the narrator do after the death of Ishmael?

he became a teacher and tried to teach others about the problems with taker culture

What is the name of the narrator?

Walter Sokolov

Walter is Ishmael's ___ student

5th

What happened to all of Ishmael's other students?

they became beaten down by the end of his instruction

What is the narrators name?

Walter Sokolov

Who is Ishmaels caretaker after her father (Walter's) death and what did she do?

Rachel Sokolov helped him devise a system by which he could teach others in an attempt to advance into the center of human culture

Explain Ishmael's past

He was captured from his mother when he was young, by two famous animal collectors, who sold him to a zoo in the Northeast United States. He explains how, at the zoo, captive animals have a sense of living an unnatural life. Eventually, Ishmael was sold to a traveling menagerie. Unlike the zoo visitors, who talked amongst themselves while studying him, menagerie visitors spoke directly to him. He eventually intuited through their repetition that they were calling him "Goliath"

What was Ishmael's original name?

Goliath

What does the narrator say when Ishmael asks if he would go back to prehistoric times?

He refuses

What does the narrator take with him when he leaves the carnival grounds at the end of the book?

Ishmael's books, maps and papers

What assumption does Ishmael say the Takers must have made about the world in order to follow the laws they follow?

That there is something fundamentally wrong with humankind

What sidetracks the narrator from his plan to spring Ishmael in Chapter 13?

A blown cooling fan

What does the narrator accuse himself of, when he hears the news about Ishmael at the end of the book?

Egotism

What method does the narrator say he would use, to deduce the laws of the group Ishmael describes in Chapter 7?

Close observation

What looming crisis does Ishmael imply will correct the 'Takers'' excesses?

Population explosion

What is a "story"?

is a scenario that connects and explains the relationship between man, the world, and the gods.

What does it mean "To enact"?

means to live so as to make the story a reality.

What is "Culture"?

involves a people enacting a particular story

What does Ishmael ask Walter to record?

The creation myth

What is the creation myth?

the narrator recounts the generally accepted history of the universe, beginning with the Big Bang theory, progressing through the theory of evolution, and ending with the appearance of man. However, he insists that this story involves facts and can hence not be considered a myth. Ishmael agrees that the story contains facts, but argues that the way the facts are arranged are what make it a myth, and that the narrator has accepted this arrangement from Mother Culture.

What is Ishmael's creation story?

an anthropologist roams the Earth alone, half a billion years ago. Eventually, the anthropologist discovers a jellyfish floating in the waves, and asks it to tell him its culture's creation myth. Indignant, the jellyfish replies that there is no creation myth (much in the same way that the narrator refused to acknowledge such a myth). Instead, the jellyfish tells the anthropologist a factual account similar to the narrator's, except that its version ends with the appearance of jellyfish.

What does the narrator learn from Ishmaels jellyfish story?

human culture operates under a creation myth in which man is considered the climax of evolution. Even though the universe continues to develop and evolution occur, humans implicitly assume that the Earth was made for them, since they were its finest and ultimate creation.

What does Mother Culture's creation myth assume?

That the gods created the Earth solely to engender and support man

Gist of the taker's story

the world was made for man

what two groups does ishmael divide humans

Takers and leavers

Takers

members of the dominant culture who see humans as the rulers of the world whose destiny is to grow without check and dominate first the planet, then the universe, through technological innovations; united by their desire for and embrace of civilization

Leavers

Leavers are members of tribal cultures that live more simply, following the same basic rules that govern other populations on Earth; united in their eschewal of civilization

Ishmael is a

gorilla

Where was Ishmael born?

He was born in West Africa

What is the knowledge of the gods?

Who shall live and who shall die

What kind of knowledge do takers want?

Knowledge between good and evil

Through this metaphor, Ishmael helps the narrator understand what they've accomplished

they've started to see the landmarks of Taker culture that the narrator has taken for granted his entire life. Now that the landmarks are in place, Ishmael foreshadows that the narrator is ready for the next step — to see the world through the Leavers' eyes, rather than the Takers'.

What story did ishmael tell to make a point to the narrator about his creation myth?

a blob of jelly and a jellyfish

what point did ishamel make to the narrator about his creation myth?

that takers believe the earth was made to support human life and this shapes much of the takers behavior

what did ishmael want the narrator to record in the tape recorder at the beginning of one of their meetings?

the narrators creation myth

What three ways did the takers gods trick them?

First, they're (the Takers) not the center of the universe, though they act like they are. Second, humans evolved just like everything else, even though they feel above evolution. And third, that they're not actually exempt from the laws of life

What is the role of a ruler?

Puts the world in order

what happened to walter sokolows parents?

killed in the Holocaust

What is the name of the narrator

idk

Which word does the narrator not define?

human

ishmael compares taker culture to

an inventor testing a flying contraption

why is the narrator reluctant to search for the rules by which to live?

his student teacher relationship with Ishmael will end

which of the following is not one of the narrator's three basic laws of life? dont exterminate your competition for food, dont deny access to food to others, dont preserve food surpluses, dont destroy your competitors food supply to grow your own?

do not preserve food surpluses

taker culture took off at the beginning of the

agricultural period

Ishmael often uses the socratic method to teach. the socratic method involves

asking lead questions

which statement about taker culture is false? Takers value tradition and history, Takers believe the world belongs to them, Takers value the new and innovative, Takers believe they are the end of evolution

takers value tradition and history

In ishmael's retelling of the story of cain and abel, abel represents

the leavers

Ishmael suggests that the narrator's first step toward changing the world is to

become a teacher

where did the narrator first meet the gorilla?

in an empty office space

Who is the gorilla's teacher?

Walter, got him in a carnival

Ishmaels Past time

living in the city off of walter sokolows estate after his death and looks for students to help spread his teachings

who is walter sokolows butler who still cares for Ishmael even though Ishmael no longer lives on the Sokolow estate?

Mr. Partridge

how did ishmael learn to communicate telepathically?

walter was talking to ishmael about his family dying in the holocaust not thinking he can understand until he touched his hand so he taught him how to communicate

what is the driving question behind the novel?

why are things the way they are

How does Ishmael characterize the Takers' response to the law he and the narrator discuss in Chapter 8?

They claimed that it did not apply to them

How much does the narrator have in his pocket when he withdraws all his savings?

$2400

What does Ishmael say 'Eve' means?

Life

What is the root of the narrator's objection to hunter-gatherer life?

Hunter-gatherers are always struggling to stay alive

What does the narrator say, in Chapter 6, is the problem with his culture's story?

The narrator says that conquering the earth has meant destroying it

How does the narrator characterize Ishmael's expression when he gets the narrator to see that the idea that man should rule the earth is a myth?

sad and glum

. What does Ishmael say is ironic about the story the Takers adopted about two thousand years ago?

It has been created by their enemies

What distinction does Ishmael point out between Leaver and Taker cultures?

The absence of prophets in the leaver culture

What does the narrator answer when Ishmael asks him, in Chapter 5, what man's destiny is?

To build civilization

When does Ishmael say the Take population will contract

When it runs out of natural resources

How does Ishmael say the gods must have seen the world before man, according to the narrator's culture's story?

Unfinished

When does Ishmael say that human history began?

3 thousand years ago

What does Mr. Partridge tell the narrator when he inquires at the Sokolow house in Chapter 10

That Mr. Sokolow's daughter had died

In Chapter 12, how does Ishmael say man became man?

By living in the hands of god

How does Ishmael describe civilization's progress in Chapter 7?

As the free-fall of an aircraft that does not accord with the laws of aerodynamics

What temptation does Ishmael say Adam succumbed to when he took the fruit from Eve in the Bible story?

The temptation to live without limit

Which carnival was Ishmael at?

The Darryl Hicks Carnival

Subtitle of Ishmael

An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit

How does Ishmael explain the food chain?

people called "A's" serve as food for those who are "B's." Similarly, "B's" are food for "C's," and then "C's" for "A's." This society conforms to a law, which allows them a friendly, peaceable existence. Ishmael asks the narrator how he would discover what this law is, without asking the citizens directly.

Four parts of natural law

First, species should never eliminate their competitions, which Takers do.

Second, a species must not systematically destroy the food source of competitors in order to make room for its own food.

Third, a species must not deny its competitors access to food, unless it needs that food for survival.

Finally, a species should not store food

What does the poster say in the beginning of the novel?

With man gone, will there be hope for a gorilla?

The __________provided the foundation of the vast Takers civilizations that spread throughout the world

agricultural revolution

What does the narrator find when he returns?

When he finally returns, he discovers a janitor cleaning the now-empty offic

Name of Ishmael after being captured

Gargantua

Ishmael and the narrator then conclude that

the Takers are those who believe they know good and evil, and the Leavers are "those who live in the hands of the gods"

What did Rachel Sokolow earn her masters degree in?

Biology

How old was the narrator during the 1960s and 1970s?

teens

Ishmael says that Takers who don't enact the story ____.

do not get fed

Where does Sokolow keep Ishmael after purchasing him?

gazebo