An Adventure Of The Mind And Spirit By Daniel Quinn

Ishmael by Daniel Quinn is an book which discusses many things, most specifically how humans see and treat the world around them. The book categorizes humans into two distinct categories, takers and leavers. There are many themes which are used throughout the book, such as captivity, identity, and evolution. One of the most important things discussed throughout the book is the environment, how humans treat it and how the takers are destroying the world through knowing nothing about it. This book has many parts of it that make it interesting to read, like the Takers and Leavers, all the different themes, and the discussion Ishmael has on the environment and how humans treat it.

Hannah Arendt presents in her novel, The Life of the Mind, a theory she refers to as the “two-in-one.” She builds her theory off of a Socratic proposition. Socrates stated that it would be better for a group of men to be out of tune with each other than for him to be out of tune with himself. Here, however, lies a paradox. How can one be out of tune with itself? Arendt states that “you always need at least two tones to produce a harmonious sound” (183). Yet when you appear to others, you are one, otherwise you would be unrecognizable. But Arendt points out that you do not only appear to others, you also exist and appear for yourself. In doing so, you become more than one. As Arendt paradoxically states, “A difference is inserted into my Oneness” (183).

In the reading “Journey by the Inner Light”, the author Meeta Kaur begins her story by discussing the routine of her hair baths and the importance of her long hair. As a child, Kaur didn't quite understand why she needed to take care of her long hair nor did she question why every woman in her family had long thick hair. When Kaur was in middle school, her mother allowed her to take a trip to India where she was able to learn more about her roots and culture. On the trip, Kaur began to read a bunch of comic books which helped her gain knowledge about her hair. She learned that her hair was referred to as kesh and that her kesh represents an external identity. Although Kaur was amazed with all the information she acquired about her culture, she still had trouble committing to the ways of a Sikh woman. As Kaur gets older, she becomes more Americanized as she is surrounded by people who have different values from that of her own culture. This begins to interfere with her daily lifestyle as she starts to question her own culture and that of American culture. Kaur notices how young girls at her University have unique hairstyles and she just wanted to be able to do the same with her own hair. At this point in her life, Kaur decided that she just wanted to fit in with American society and so she decided to cut her hair short. This caused a lot of problems with Kaur and her family. Not only was Kaur’s mother upset but she was also hurt and disappointed that Kaur cut her hair

Randall Kenan born in Brooklyn, NY 1963 was raised by his grandparents in a rural community in North Carolina. In 1985, he graduated the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a degree in English and creative writing. One of his instructors recommended him for a job for and editor at Random House where he was an eventual assistant to senior editor’s prestigious subsidiary, Alfred A. Knopf. (Fountain) Kenan’s first novel, A Visitation of Spirits, was published in 1989, and a collection of stories, Let the Dead Bury the Dead, followed in 1992. He has written five other works and has received numerous awards. (RandallKenan.com) Randall Kenan is a talented African-American author of the present era who writes about the human condition. He not only writes about what it is like to be a black man in the south, but he throws in homosexuality into the bible belt. Kenan repeatedly pits homosexual characters against an oppressive, closed minded community that is against new views of acceptance and equality of the times. With these themes of racial and sexual identity, forgiveness and acceptance; “Kenan, perhaps one of the first Southern authors to openly analyze the struggles of homosexuals, he subtly intertwines common concerns and ideals from the Civil Rights Era and parallels the Gay Rights Movement of today.” (Turley)

“Your work is to discover your world and then with all your heart give yourself to it.” – Buddha. The greatest adventure in life is discovering your inner self and finding the purpose of it, It is the roots of everything that we do and where we base our actions on. The book “The Uninvited” written by Tim Wynne- Jones, is a story set in the modern time in a remote and distant little town in Ontario, Canada. It is set in three different points of view of the characters Mimi Shapiro, Jackson Page, and Cramer Lee. Mimi Shapiro is a quirky and bold student from New York, she comes from a wealthy divorced family and is using this opportunity to escape from a weird relationship with her professor. When she arrives at the cottage where she accidentally discovers her half brother Jackson Page who is a musician and songwriter. They spend the summer together along with Iris Wu, Jackson’s girlfriend and discover awful secrets about the little town. Cramer Lee is an awkward boy who often breaks into Mimi and Jackson’s cottage and steals a few valuable items. Cramer also follows around and stalks Mimi every so often but he sincerely cares about Mimi and wants to love and cherish her. During Mimi’s visit, they become mature over the experiences and occurrence while looking for the answers along with Jackson and Cramer in “The Uninvited”. By using the examples of the setting of the story, the narrative point of view and the character development it contributes to the story’s development

From our text, Race, Class, and Gender, we read Unit III E: The Structure of Social Institutions; The State and Violence: Policing the National Body: Sex, Race, and Criminalization; The Color of Justice; Rape, racism, and the Law; and Interpreting and Experiencing Anti-Queer Violence : Race, Class, and Gender Differences among LGBT Hate Crime Victims. We also encountered and excerpt from Social Work Practice With a Difference; The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, by Anne Fadiman. The first four reading from our text explore the association of the manner in which state power organizes race, class, and gender. We also get a view of how the intersectional approach of race, class, and gender may help us to understand some forms

Immigrating to America is a process in which many people all across the world entrust as their one way ticket to a better life. Whether they do so legally or illegally, coming to the United States ensures better opportunities, economically, politically, and so on, to people who would have otherwise been worse off in their countries of origin. Even so, the common understanding of being “better off” can be considered a misconstrued concept when it comes to living in the states. Many families that choose to immigrate to the U.S. fail to realize the cultural hardships that newcomers tend to face once on American soil. Anything from racial discrimination or bias at work, in neighborhoods, at school, etc., can all be challenges that people encounter when making a move to the U.S. Such challenges are described by Richard Rodriquez in his autobiography Hunger of Memory. In this passage, he explains how cultural differences between Mexican and American ways of life have shaped him into the person that he is today. He also chooses to highlights the problems that he faces growing up in a predominately white neighborhood, while attending a predominantly white institution. Much of his writing consists of the cultural differences and pressures he feels to assimilate to Western culture and how this process, in turn, changes him into the person that some may find to be unethical, but nonetheless, someone he is proud of.

In William Barney’s article, “The Quest for Room,” he analyzes the differing opinions between the North and South regarding the expansion of slavery into the newly acquired Western territories. The author argues that the West would have been important to slaveholders as a place to expand slavery if the territories had not been free-soil. The reason for this article was to show us how prominent the sectional differences were in the nineteenth century because of the argument over slavery. This, in turn, led to the secession of the Southern states from the Union as they formed the Confederacy; this dug the nation into a deep-pitted civil war.

Throughout it all, Ishmael leads his pupil through his trials with wit and wisdom, even while leading him towards solutions for world hunger and environmental destruction. Makes one wonder how it is that Quinn, as he claims, arrived at all of the conclusions in the book by simply going to the library and doing a little research. Part parable, part myth, and totally compelling, Ishmael leaves one hungry and wondering, waiting for the next chapter of humanity's tale to play out. As any good book does, Ishmael leaves readers with more questions than answers, and demands that the reader figure out the solution for himself.

In the book, The Conscious Reader, there are many stories by many different authors. All these stories are different but at the same time they are alike. They all in some way deal with education. Whether it is using education, gaining education, or giving education, they all have their way to show that education is important.

Ismael is novel that pointe it in that the human need to change their way of life and they have to stop what they doing to the world. According to Ishmael the human destroyed the world and kill the animals like the gorillas. Ishmael is gorilla he said the men destroying the world and they have to stop doing what they do. He and the narrator are describing everything in the world what happen in the world right now. They make the people to parts takers and leavers. Philosophy of this story that the people have to know how the other things around them look to them. The human think they are the best in this world, but Ishmael said that the human is destroying the world. Each them in the book has purpose to say it in the book. For example,

Although CHEER may seem hard and overwhelming to students, they have to push themselves to achieve an A in both courses. Establishing a growth mindset in summer school is key to being successful in the classes that are being taken. Students should take advantage of tutoring and lab time that is offered. Wisely using both opportunities, CHEER students have the ability to obtain an A in both courses. In order to do so, students have to keep a healthy brain by getting rest, exercising and living a healthy lifestyle. By doing such things, students will be prompt and ready for class.

Social change comes from a societies understanding and acceptance of controversial topics, laws that enforce social norms and the politics that play a role in such change. The author Gerald Rosenberg of “The Hollow Hope” believes that the Supreme Court is able to bring about social change. Rosenburg main argument seemed to be questioning if a courts ruling that had once been accepted and had standing for several years were to be over turned, would the environment outside of the courtroom suddenly change and be accepting of their division.

While reading “The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down,” written by Anne Fadiman, I found how interesting it was to learn about the history of the Hmong people. These groups of people have been through a lot in history, and they fought to keep their culture alive when the Chinese people attacked them for not assimilating to their culture. The Hmong people have different birthing tradition then those of Americans. The Hmong people believed in “Dabs,” which is evil spirits that can steal the baby’s soul. When Lia was taken to MCMC for seizures, we see the conflict that both the doctor and parents had towards communication, which included different diagnosis by the doctors from the diagnosis of the parents. The Hmong people also believe that it is taboo to have surgery or blood

Christopher “Alexander Supertramp” McCandless was a dreamer. However, unlike most of us nowadays, Christopher turned his desire for adventure into reality. Similar to Buddha, he gave up his wealth, family, home, and most possessions except the ones he carried before embarking on his journey. He traveled by various methods, mostly on foot, to eventually reach his desired goal in the Alaskan wilderness. Unfortunately, due to various mistakes, Christopher ultimately passed and his body was found in a neglected Fairbank City Transit Bus. His motivation to achieve his goal was based on the many aspects of his life. Chris’s dysfunctional family weighed heavily on him, one prime reason for driving him onto the road of freedom.