Ishmael Ch. 9

Out of all the chapters we have read of Ishmael so far, this one really blew my mind. In my opinion, chapter 9 is the most thought-provoking segment of the story yet.

My first observation is a little irrelevant to the rest of my post, but I thought it was interesting that when the narrator walks in for that day’s session, Ishmael is uncaged. I felt like this was a sign that Ishmael was going to start breaking down barriers, starting off literally. He wanted to challenge the narrator (comfort wise and intellectually) more than he had been so far, so having Ishmael unbound sets a different tone to this chapter.

Now I grew up going to church, and I’m no expert on the Bible, but I have heard countless biblical stories, including the story of Cain and Abel. However, growing up, I never thought to pair historical development with stories in the Bible. I guess looking from Ishmael’s perspective now, I implicitly thought of all these stories as myths or old tales to guide or morals and ways of living (how Taker of me). That being said, when Ishmael talked of the first people on Earth gaining knowledge and brought up biblical names like Adam and Eve, I was intrigued to hear the story I grew up with depicted in this way.

The part from this chapter that blew my mind was Ishmael essentially describing Cain as a Taker and Abel as a Leaver. Cain and the other Takers were so concerned with agricultural and population expansion, while Abel and the Leavers were attempting to be content with what they had. This disconnect is what caused them to fight, ultimately ending in Cain slaughtering Abel for Taker expansion and benefit. The fact that Taker and Leaver characteristics can be pinpointed back to one of the earliest stories humans have documented is baffling to me.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t think of any articles or other research to pair with this blog post, but this reading was definitely a thought-provoking one. Connecting Cain and Abel to Takers and Leavers makes me want to look at other historical and biblical stories and draw Taker and Leaver characteristics to each of them.