Ishmael is a philosophical novel by Daniel Quinn, published by Bantam/Turner books in 1992. Quinn is a prolific writer specializing in cultural critique, and Ishmael embraces many of the themes that Quinn explores in his other fiction and nonfiction works, such as sustainability and the mythology of human civilization. As a philosophical novel, the work follows a somewhat Socratic dialogue between an unnamed narrator and a telepathic gorilla, Ishmael, using rhetorical conventions to display and expand on Quinn’s arguments regarding the role of humanity in the natural world. The novel questions the ways in which contemporary humanity views the world, nature, and themselves, seeking to organize the narratives that drive human culture to find alternative methods of telling and enacting the human “story.” The novel develops themes of Human Civilization’s Myths and Narratives, Sustainability and Ecological Balance, The Human Role in the World’s Ecosystem, and Mysticism, the Sage, and the Student.

Quinn’s work is philosophical, and it neatly falls into the categories of cultural theory and cultural criticism, specifically ecocriticism, which looks at the relationship between nature and text. Ishmael is the only novel to have ever been awarded the Turner Tomorrow Fellowship Award, which it received for its contribution to the issues of sustainability.

This guide refers to the 1995 paperback edition of Ishmael, published by Bantam Turner Books through Random House, Inc.

Plot Summary

The novel opens as the narrator finds an advertisement in the newspaper posted by a teacher looking for a student with an earnest desire to save the world. The narrator, having been disappointed by the counterculture movements of the 1960s and 1970s, cynically decides to investigate the ad, which he discovers was posted by a telepathic gorilla named Ishmael who is living in the office building listed in the ad. Ishmael reveals to the narrator that he was born in Africa in the early 20th century, was brought to a zoo, and was moved to a carnival during the Great Depression of the 1930s. From there, he was adopted by a wealthy Jewish man named Walter Sokolow, who was looking to replace the family he had lost in the Holocaust. With Walter, Ishmael discovered his ability to communicate, and he researched human and natural history extensively. After Walter’s death, his daughter, Rachel, became Ishmael’s benefactor, and she presumably helped Ishmael secure the office.

Beginning their lessons, Ishmael discusses how the counterculture movements of the 1960s and 1970s were unsuccessful because people could not identify the nature of their own captivity, and the narrator and Ishmael agree to classify all humans as either Takers or Leavers. Takers participate in broad, global exchange, industrialism, and commerce, while Leavers are Indigenous groups living in much the same way as their peoples have for thousands of years. The focus of the lessons is initially on getting the narrator to understand how culture is an enactment of a story, with Ishmael prodding the narrator to construct the mythology of Taker culture.

As the narrator pieces together the story that he knows of humanity, Ishmael helps him see how Taker culture is inherently anthropocentric, presuming that humanity is the end product of evolution and the universe and that humanity has a special place in nature as the leader or conqueror of the world. Ishmael guides the narrator through the process by which this narrative developed, beginning with the agricultural revolution around 8,000 BCE, during which humanity began settling and growing food. However, the process of human settlement broke the laws of natural competition, under which no species is allowed to exterminate, restrict, or disadvantage its competitors or the competitors for its food sources, as these actions limit biodiversity. Ishmael explains that the focus that humans—specifically Takers—have placed on their role as the organizers and dominators of the world has resulted in pollution, devastation, and destabilization of the world’s ecosystem through the enactment of a narrative of world domination.

The narrator wants to know how people can improve or change the story they are enacting, and Ishmael tells the narrator how the Leavers—Indigenous peoples all over the world—have maintained an ecological balance for themselves and the species around them by experimenting with various lifestyles and cultures without breaking the laws of natural competition. Comparing civilization to early attempts at flight, Ishmael demonstrates how flying machines that do not work still appear to fly for at least a moment before tumbling to the ground. Likewise, the Taker culture appears to function, but it is actually about to fall at any time. Leavers though, are able to adapt and change when their culture is not working, and Ishmael thinks that the Takers need to adapt and change, as well, in order to avoid total destruction.

Near the end of their lessons, Rachel Sokolow dies, and Ishmael is purchased by a traveling carnival. The narrator visits the carnival to complete their lessons, and he plans to purchase Ishmael so that he can continue their friendship. When the lessons are complete, Ishmael urges the narrator to teach these lessons to 100 others, who can then teach 100 more each, so that the Takers will stop encroaching on the Leavers and start making more sustainable decisions, globally, ensuring humanity’s survival. Before the narrator can arrange to purchase Ishmael, he discovers that Ishmael died before the carnival relocated. As the narrator takes Ishmael’s belongings with him, the ending implies that the narrator will follow Ishmael’s instructions and teach others about the need for cultural change.