Ishmael 1&2 "Nazi Germany and Nature"

"They've been given an explanation of how things came to be this way, and this stills their alarm"(Quinn, 44).

I am a first time reader of the book "Ishmael" by David Quinn, I was in shock when the text started off pretty normal with a middle aged white male questioning an ad and then all of a sudden he is taking a life changing course with a Gorilla, yes a Gorilla! Which has so many meanings, one especially being that primates are used to symbolize "savageness" and white men symbolize civilization. Here, we have a Gorilla teaching a White man about the fall of man.

Ancient Civilization

There are so many important things brought up in these first two chapters. I want to concentrate on the parallel drawn between Hitler and Germany versus People and Mother Nature. Ishmael talks about a "story" that Hitler tells his fellow Aryans about what has been stolen from them, and what they need to do to get it back. His tale went on to create one of the most horrific events in human civilization, the holocaust. To this day, people are still baffled on how people could mindlessly allow it to happen. That's the point to us it's just a tale on supposed German victory to them it was a story meant to be turned to reality. How does this relate to us? Well Ishmael tells us humans are divided into takers and leavers. In the story of Germany takers are Hitler and Germany, leavers are everybody else. Takers have convinced themselves and continue to spread this "story"about who we are, and why we can do the things we do. While leavers which also include Mother Nature wonder how people aimlessly allow such horrific events to continue within their communities with no alarm.

The story hasn't been revealed yet, but my personal guess is, it's a story of growth and conquest one that dates back to the story of Creation whether you believe it or not.This story has huge implications on how our society runs today. We just started this story, so what are you a "taker" or a "leaver"?