An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit

Narrator sees an ad Ad says “Teacher Seeks Pupil. Must have an earnest desire to save the world. Apply in person.” Narrator has always wanted to save the world Believes ad is bogus Goes to an office building to apply Sees a giant gorilla Gorilla tells narrator about his life and how he came to be intelligent Speaking telepathically

The Creation Myth Pt. 1  Ishmael, the gorilla, tells the narrator that every culture has a creation myth  Ishmael asks the narrator about the human creation myth  Narrator tells about the big bang theory  Ishmael says there are three parts to the creation myth  Creation, humans, agricultural boom

THE CREATION MYTH PT. 2 Ishmael says if he asked a pink blob three million years ago what their creation myth was they would say it ended with Jellyfish Creation did not end with Jellyfish Creation does not end with man Humans believe that the universe was created for them

Law of Human Behavior  There’s a law for all things Ex. Law of Gravity  Law of Human Behavior Broken by modern civilization Ishamel tells of the A B C’s

THE A B C’S No hierarchy in this society  A’s eat C’s  B’s eat A’s  C’s eat B’s They have a law  Law keeps everyone happy  Everyone follows it Figuratively someone breaks the law (How would you discover what the law was?)  Three guidelines  “What makes their society work well”  “What they never do”  “What he did that they never do” (Quinn 117)

* Plants = A’s * Plant eaters = B’s * Predators = C’s * Left over from predators (C’s) return to the earth to feed A’s * Worked for billions of years * “Man is exempt from this law. The gods never meant man to be bound by it.” (Quinn 119) * Humans indirectly destroying the world

Ecology of the ABC’s Any species will want to expand up until the food supply can handle Humans break the law ◦ “Kill off everything you can’t eat” ◦ “Kill of anything that eats what you eat” ◦ “Kill off anything that doesn’t feed what you eat” (Quinn 131)  “One species exempting itself from this law has the same ultimate effect as all species exempting themselves” (Quinn 132)

The Gods  Gods didn’t know how to rule  They ate from the tree of knowledge  They learned who should live and who should die  Humans were created  Humans were to eat from the tree of life  Humans instead ate from the tree of knowledge  Instead we simply believed we knew good from evil but we do not  Humans believe we are equal to the Gods and can assume the role

Cain & Abel Cain and Abel fought because of different views Cain Agricultural (Taker) Abel Hunter Gatherer (Leaver) “God is on our side. He loves us herders but hates those murderous tillers of the soil from the north” (Quinn 174)

Gorilla captured at youth – spent years in captivity Grows to be more self aware Walter Sokolow encourages his intellectual growth through their telepathic communication Becomes a teacher whose focus is on how to save the world Tries to understand why humans feel that they have to dominate the world (Takers), rather than be content with being a more primitive culture (Leavers).

* Spent his youth in search of a teacher interested in teaching him how to save the world * Ishmael's fifth student and the only one who isn't completely defeated at the end of his instruction * Open-minded and maintains his desire to save the world, though he often finds it difficult to maintain a sense of hope * See’s Ishmael as not only a teacher but a friend * Unsure of his ability to be a teacher after Ishmael's death

Walter Sokolow Rescues Ishmael from a traveling carnival and helps him educate himself and becomes his first true friend Rachael Sokolow Takes care of Ishmael after her father dies Mr. Partridge Walters butler who still cares for Ishmael after he leaves the Sokolow estate