Ishmael

Ishmael notes that humanity adopted a story to enact, but he asks how humanity became humanity more broadly. The narrator does not see a way to answer that question, so Ishmael tells him to keep it in mind as they proceed through the next lesson.

Ishmael asks why the Takers need to kill off the Leavers, as well as how the Takers view the Leavers. They both agree that Takers view the lifestyle of the Leavers, as well as their own lifestyles before agriculturalism, as “ugly” and miserable. However, Ishmael points out that Leavers are not willing to leave their lifestyle to adopt the Takers’, and Takers have historically needed to use force to bring Leavers into Taker culture. The narrator notes that Mother Culture says Leavers do not understand the benefits of agriculturalism, but Ishmael comments that the Indigenous Americans of the Plains were agriculturalists until the introduction of horses. With horses, these groups went back to hunting and gathering. The narrator translates that Mother Culture does not think these Indigenous groups truly understood the value of agriculture, and Ishmael says this line of reasoning is a way to find out what the Takers were revolting against in the agricultural revolution.

Ishmael asks the narrator to think about why the Leavers’ lifestyle is so horrible to the Takers. The narrator conjures a mental image of a thin, naked man running at night, tracking his prey and avoiding predators. The narrator imagines that hunter-gatherer life was a constant effort to stay ahead of predators and struggle to catch prey. Ishmael corrects him, noting that hunter-gatherers were and are well-fed, that they do not fear predators much, since humans are not easy prey to catch and defeat, and they work much less to achieve this quality of life than the Takers. The narrator is not convinced, and Ishmael asks if an unhoused person with a spouse and children would choose to be transported into a Leaver community with all the necessary tools to succeed in that community. The narrator is not sure, since he does not think a Taker could accept that new life.

Ishmael pretends that he is a Leaver and asks the narrator to pretend that he is a Taker missionary trying to convince him of the need for agriculture and technology. Ishmael begins by saying that the Leavers lead a happy life with little stress and plenty of food and comfort. The narrator says that food is not a guarantee without agriculture or storage, since there may not be a yam to find when the Leavers’ want yams or a deer when they hunt for deer. Ishmael replies that they will eat something else, then, and the narrator says that, in a drought or emergency, there may be no food to eat. Ishmael agrees, and he says that, in those situations, some Leavers will probably die. The narrator thinks he has hit the main point of the discussion, and he says that humans need to protect themselves from those emergencies, concluding that agriculture is ultimately needed to reject the gods that govern who lives and dies. With the storage of surplus food, the Leavers could throw away the gods and live through droughts and other emergencies.

Ishmael tells the narrator that the Takers do not have any concerns either, then, since they have total control over everything. The narrator clarifies that the Takers do not yet have total control, and they agree that with total control, there would be no threat of extinction or destruction. At that point, the Takers would have thrown the gods away completely and would have total mastery of the world.

The narrator realizes that this fear of living at the mercy of nature, or the gods, is the root of the Takers’ disgust for the Leavers’ lifestyle. Ishmael reiterates that Leavers do not feel this anxiety that the Takers assume they must, but the narrator notes that this is the result of conditioning. The Mother Culture of the Takers tells them that they cannot live at the mercy of the gods. Ishmael says that this means the Takers know the knowledge of good and evil, while the Leavers live in the hands of the gods.

The narrator haggles with the man who purchased Ishmael, and the two end up at a price of $2,200. The narrator tells the man, Art Owens, that Ishmael is very old, having been alive since at least the 1930s, but Art counters that he already paid an artist $200 for a sign to go in front of Ishmael’s exhibit.

The narrator cannot manage to be alone with Ishmael until almost midnight, and Ishmael is sleeping. The narrator wakes him up, but Ishmael sneezes, clears his throat, and tells the narrator to come back tomorrow. Since tomorrow is Saturday, Ishmael acknowledges that they cannot meet then, and he agrees to talk more with the narrator about their new terms for the Takers and Leavers: those who know good and evil, and those who live in the hands of the gods.

Returning to the question of how humanity became humanity, Ishmael asks the narrator what happens to Leavers that does not happen to Takers. The narrator is confused, but Ishmael leads him to the answer that Leavers are still evolving, while Takers try to stop evolution and creation from continuing. Humanity, then, became humanity by living in accordance with nature, and the Leavers are still living in that paradigm. The Takers, though, are trying to destroy creation and halt evolution to ensure that the story of themselves as the culmination of creation can be true forever.

Ishmael asks the narrator to figure out the premise of the story that the Leavers are enacting. The narrator starts with the Takers’ premise, which is that the world belongs to humanity, and he reverses it, saying that humanity belongs to the world. Continuing his point, the narrator says that all living things have always belonged to the world, and it was not until the Takers decided that the world belonged to them that anyone thought differently. The premise of the Leavers’ story is that they belong to the world.

Ishmael demonstrates how the results of the Leavers’ story, similar to the premise, are the opposite of the Takers’. The Takers’ story results in destruction, while the Leavers’ story results in more creation.

The narrator feels that he has found the meaning of the world, with humanity as just one of many living beings within it. He suspects that all species are on the verge of intelligence and self-awareness, but humanity is the first to attain these traits. Instead of ruling the world, humanity can be a guiding force as more species start to develop their same sense of awareness. He pictures a distant future in which humanity is highly regarded for safeguarding the world and leading by example as other species joined them as equals. Even though he pictures this as a kind of teaching role, he acknowledges that it could be only a low-level role as a mentor to the remainder of the species on Earth. He and Ishmael agree that this is a wonderful destiny for humanity.

Ishmael speculates that the Indigenous cultures of North America, around the time of colonization, were working toward a lifestyle that would allow settlement and progress without breaking the laws of competition. He says that the Leaver cultures of Europe and Asia may have done the same thing if they had not been run out by the Takers. The narrator is again confused by how Leavers could become “civilized” without breaking the laws of competition, and Ishmael reiterates that settlement and civilization are not against the law, but subject to it, meaning cultures can still settle and progress so long as they do not interfere with their competition’s ability to do the same. The narrator recalls a book that explores a Leaver culture from 5,000 or 6,000 years prior, and Ishmael says the book is The Chalice and the Blade by Riane Eisler.

Ishmael notes that the dismantling of the Soviet Union, which happened some years before the novel takes place and involved the breaking up of multiple states in Eastern Europe, shows that people can still be convinced of new stories and cultural inclinations. He and the narrator both seem happy that “Marxism” has been destroyed, and they are hopeful that Taker culture can also be dismantled.

The narrator asks how he can put his newfound knowledge to use, and Ishmael tells him to teach a hundred people how to enact the Leavers’ story, to protect the Leaver cultures that remain, and to get those hundred people to teach a hundred people of their own. The narrator does not see how he can do this, and Ishmael suspects that the narrator only wants the comfort of these lessons, not the practical responsibility they imply. The narrator insists that he will teach others, but he worries that they will think he wants them to become hunter-gatherers. Ishmael says again that hunting and gathering is not critical to the Leaver lifestyle, as all that matters is a respect for the law of competition. The narrator asks how that translates into modern life, and Ishmael leaves that decision to the narrator, noting that humanity is known for its inventiveness.

Ishmael comments on how people in prison live in a similar hierarchy to the rest of the world, with the rich and powerful living better lives than the poor or weak. Comparing this to Taker culture, Ishmael says the entire world is in a prison of the Takers’ design, and the work they are assigned is the consumption of the planet.

In comparing prison and Taker culture, Ishmael notes that people in prison expect the hierarchy to be unjust. In Taker culture, as the narrator comments, men— especially white men—have most of the power, and the wealthy have more power than the poor, but all of them are still stuck in the prison of Taker culture. Ishmael comments that redistribution of wealth and power would be a beneficial step for Taker society, but the narrator doubts that it is possible, politically.

Ishmael looks tired, and he tells the narrator that their lessons are complete. The narrator is stunned, but Ishmael says that he wants to remain friends. The narrator is sad, but he leaves, with Ishmael giving him a grunt and nod as a farewell.

The narrator resolves to rescue Ishmael from the carnival, but, on his way home, his car overheats. Pulling into a gas station, a man helps the narrator figure out that the radiator fan in the car has stopped functioning. The narrator leaves his car with a mechanic, and he goes to an ATM to withdraw as much money as he can, about $2,400. He is not sure how he will convince Ishmael to come with him, or if his vehicle will function with such a large animal in the backseat, but he resolves to address each issue as it arises.

The car repairs are expensive, and the narrator resolves to rent a van instead. Taking the van to the carnival, he finds that the carnival has moved on, and he looks for the place where Ishmael’s cage was. Finding the blankets and books that Ishmael kept, the narrator runs into the attendant whom he bribed to see Ishmael at night. The attendant reveals that Ishmael died of pneumonia that morning, and his body was likely taken to the county morgue. The narrator asks to keep Ishmael’s belongings, and the attendant agrees.

Returning home, the narrator calls Mr. Partridge at the Sokolow residence. He tells Partridge that Ishmael is dead, and Partridge is sad to hear it. The narrator thinks they could have saved him, but Partridge asks if Ishmael would have accepted their help. The narrator is not sure if he would have.

When the narrator goes to reframe Ishmael’s sign, which he kept in the office, he realizes that there are two messages on it. The first, as in the office, asks if there will be hope for the gorilla without humans, while the second asks if there will be hope for humans without the gorilla.