Studied by 1 person
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
