Blog 5: Discuss Ishmael

Start of discussion time: 10/17/2022, 1:18 PM End of discussion time: 10/17/2022, 1:50 PM All of my Group Members were present. As discussed in our group Ishameal is a unique book that approaches philosophical questions in a new way. Using the approach of a telepathy communicating Gorilla creates confusion through the book. The use of commonly known events such as the holocaust allows a reader to follow the story. Things such as the airplane example that Ishmael brings up also helps a confused reader. There are many ideas that Ishamel presents but chief amongst them is this idea of takers verus leavers. There are many points that Ishamel brings up that gives validity to this idea but I disagree with him that this is 50/50. Ishamel Suggests that you can either be a taker or a leaver and nothing else, I belive that there is a big grey area there that could help explain certain types of people. One of the questions that stook out to our group was question 3, the idea that a younger person is in a better place to bring change. We came to the conclusion that when your younger you are more willing to learn. Its hard to teach a old dog new tricks much like the narrartor is 40, he wnats to learn but his age holds him back. The authors purpose was a hotly debated topic in our discussion. We questioned why the author chose a Gorilla to convey his message and there are many different philosophical questions brought up. Another confusing strategy the author uses is the many story plots that are abandoned such as the man that adopted him but them kinda pushed him to the side because the man got married. The book does makes us look at our world a little different, it allows a reader to take circumstances in their life and apply it to ideas presented in the text such as the takers versus leavers idea. Due to the many ideas brought up in the story it causes confusion for most of the book, with that being said there were mnay ideas presented in the text that a reader could take away and apply to their own lives.