Sandra Njera

Ishmael: A Novel Idea

Ishmael: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit Many types of professors, teachers, and tutors exist all over the world, and all of them teach in very different ways. Nevertheless, some in particular have a similar teaching method. In his book Ishmael, Daniel Quinn presents the relationship between the teacher and the pupilIshmael being the teacher and the narrator the pupil. Ishmael who was taught by his benefactor All he knew of the world and the universe and human history (Quinn 12), develops the need to teach mankind all that knowledge; furthermore, he develops the pleasure for teaching, and becomes one eccentric teacher who shows his teaching method to be as that of Socrates. The Socratic Method that Ishmael uses involves three basic things: asking and answering questions to explore definitions, the search for general truths to determinate beliefs, and a debate between the individualsin this case between the teacher and the student. The Didactic Novel Genre The didactic novel shows a literature that can be instructional or informative using factual information. Also, some aspects of morality, religion, and ethics may appear in this interesting literary genre. In her theses about the novel, didactic literature, among other things related, Christine M. Pense explains: It is traditional in didactic literature to conflate the narrator with the author, the assumption being that for a serious discussion of truth, the formal critical distance between the two positions creates an impossible element of uncertainty (54). Considering this, sometimes it can cause the reading to be a bit complicated. But that is what makes it interestingbeing able to go instantly from one world to another.

The Socratic Method of Educating This series of questions are not to continue a conversation, but to start thinking. The questions Ishmael formulates are not as simple as they may seem. He uses them to illuminate his ideas for the student, and specially to stimulate their critical thinking. One way of illuminating ideas would be using rhetorical questionsquestions that do not need an answer. When Ishmael is telling his story about the evolution gives an example by asking rhetorically, What sort of world would it be without an anthropologist? (Quinn 31). From this question, Ishmael is not expecting an answer; he just wants to make his story clearly. He also uses captious questions to stimulate critical thinking; their answer may be tricky or unknown. The teacher as well uses another type of questions which can be formulated as tests of logic. Since Ishmael doesnt always ask closed-ended questions, but also openended questions, he wants his student to think deeply and use logic. One day Ishmael sent the narrator home to search for the law that has been present in the human community for the last three billion years; and since he had to do it on his own, he experienced some complications and freaks out because he wants to have a permanent teacher, not one just for the moment. It can be seen that the narrator feels dependent on Ismael, and thinks that without him he will not be able to do anything. This is quite opposite to Ishmaels objective. However, the narrator realizes that he had to do it by himself to get a better comprehension of the situation. When he returns to Ishmael, the first thing he says to him is I think I see why you insisted I do it myself If you had done the work for me and pointed out the things the Takers do that are never done in the natural community, I would have said, Well, sure, so what, big deal (Quinn 71).

The student used his logic and learned that a subject is best learned when the individual obtains the answer by his/herself. One of the purposes of the Socratic Method is to search for the universal, common truths, the ones everyone knows but do not realize they know. Ishmael is trying to illuminate one truth, and puts the narrator to think about how things came to be this way; he starts off saying that the explanation of how things came to be this way was not written or anything like it; but to some extent it is an accumulation of all the facts and details seen and heard always and everywhere. Therefore, one general truth is that This explanation of how things came to be this way is ambient in your culture. Everyone knows it and everyone accepts it without question (Quinn 22). Ishmael demonstrates that the truth is that everyone knows this cultural mythologythe theory of evolution. Debates are another essential part of the Socratic Method because in those moments is when the teacher can see his students development, the way he handles the specific topic, and how much he has improved in the subject. In the beginning, when Ishmael was trying to explain something to his pupil, he had to put it in other words so that the pupil could understand; to this the narrator only answered with a small number of words or hesitating. Nail it down. Go a little deeper (Quinn 44), Ishmael would say so that the student would think some more. Nonetheless, the student later understood what his conversations with Ishmael were about, and what he had to do to keep on going; he grew a greater interest and put a little more effort, resulting in a huge improvement in his answers; that is when the student starts to be somehow like Plato, later becoming a teacher himself.

A contradiction is a way to strengthen the point of view of one of the individuals involved in a debate. Here one of the individuals tries to make the other individual contradict himself with his own words. An example of contradiction in Quinns novel is when Ishmael and the narrator start talking about the connection between captivity and saving the world. The narrator answers Ishmaels question of who are the ones responsible of destroying the world by saying that no one wants to destroy it. Ishmael sees that the narrator is contradicting himself and responds, And yet you do destroy it, each of you. Each of you contributes daily to the destruction of the world (Quinn 14). Ishmael wants the pupil to see the contradiction to show him that he is right about what he is saying. Reviews When someone reads Ishmael, he or she will never be the same. Some of the individuals that have read this book find it to be a great one that everyone should read because it makes people think about the attitudes everyone has towards nature. The weekly newspaper The Austin Article shares that It is as suspenseful, inventive and socially urgent as any fiction or nonfiction book you are likely to read this or any other year". Ishmael has received some recognized awards and many positive reviews. It is noticeable that people like the way Daniel Quinn presents his original and creative solutions to worldwide problems. Therefore, The New York Times Book Review writes: "A thoughtful, fearlessly low-key novel about the role of our species in the planet... laid out for us with an originality and a clarity that few would deny", confirming that it is good for everyone to read this book.

Conclusion Ishmael has a lot of things similar to Socrates in what corresponds to his method of educating. Ishmaels ideas illuminated by different kinds of questions, and his definitions explained with myths become to be part of daily life. The debates and contradictions with his pupil were meant to make everything easier and clearer. The relationship Ishmael has with his student is as that of Socrates and Plato because the student will write about his professor and all the things taught. Just like he became dependent on Ishmael, he became independent at the time of his death. Everyone would love to have such an amazing teacher like Ishmael for life. The best of all is that Ishmael stops being an exotic gorilla to become a brilliant, outstanding professor not only for the narrator, but for everyone who reads the book.

Works Cited All American: Glossary of Literary Terms. Web. August 2012, <http://www .uncp.edu/home/canada/work/allam/general/glossary.htm#d> Pense, Christine. M. Containing Knaves and Fools: The Novel, Religious Courtship and Didactic Literature. January 1, 1992. Web. August 2012. <http://preserve.lehigh .edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1100&context=etd> Quinn, Daniel. Ishmael: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit. New York: Bantam/Turner, 1995. Print Quinn, Daniel. Ishmael.org. Daniel Quinn, 2012. Web. August 2012. < http://www .ishmael.org/Origins/Ishmael/#reviews >