An adventure of the mind and spirit

Project description
Required book: Quinn, Daniel. (1992). Ishmael: An adventure of the mind and spirit. New York, NY: Bantam/Turner.

Ishmael is the story of a desperate young man in search of a teacher. The teacher he finds is a gorilla, who, being a member of another species, has an entirely different vision of our history and our role in the universe. No ordinary gorilla, Ishmael is uncommonly intelligent, with an ability to not merely understand human speech but to recognize the fundamental flow of contemporary western culture and to point the way toward a solution. Who better than a gorilla that has been held in captivity for decades to describe the human condition as a form of captivity? Ishmael suggests that modern humans, for the most part, are captives of a civilization system that more or less compels you to go on destroying the world in order to live. This assignment requires you to elaborate your thoughts on Ishmael in an open reflection.

This essay should be a minimum of 4 double spaced pages (formal essay, with an introduction and a conclusion). The only restriction on this essay (aside from length) is that you must use at LEAST TWO scholarly sources that have not been assigned for this course. This should NOT be a summary of Ishmael as I have already read the book. DO NOT SUBMIT A BOOK REVIEW OR YOU WILL EARN A ZERO ON THIS ASSIGNMENT!!!! You must demonstrate that you have read the book in its entirety . . . the use of examples (cited appropriately) is perhaps the most efficient way to accomplish this task. (For example, if most/all of your examples are from the first 50 pages, it will be reasonably obvious to me that you have not read the entire book)!

Points you MAY want to use to guide your paper (not required):
What is the Taker story? Are we captives of the Taker story? What is the penalty for refusing a part in the Taker story? Explain the premise of the taker story that the world was made for man, and he was meant to rule and conquer it. Why does Ishmael find this premise problematic?
Do you agree with Ishmael that we need to destroy the prison, not redistribute wealth within it? What does this mean?
Explain the two sides of the poster Ishmael kept with him: With Man Gone, Will There Be Hope for Gorilla? With Gorilla Gone, Will There Be Hope for Man?
What is the relevance of this story for this course? For Justice Studies generally?
What does Ishmael mean when he says that “to live at the mercy of the world” is not to “be truly man”? What does it mean to be truly man?