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The Taker Society

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The Taker society that we have today was shaped by the decision of the first two humans. When the gods first created all of the animals on Earth, they struggled with the decision of when one animal should suffer for the betterment of another(Quinn161). The gods struggled with this until they ate from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. With this newfound knowledge, the gods were easily able to make the decisions that balance the lives of animals. With the creation of the first man, Adam, the gods wanted to push him towards finding the Tree of Life. The gods soon became worried that Adam may become tired of finding the Tree of Life and instead settle for the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. This tree would not give Adam the knowledge …show more content…

This idea that humans had the power to decide who should live and who should die shaped the Taker society we have today. The idea that humans are equal to the gods and are above all other creatures forced the gods to remove Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden and forced them to live off the Earth. This thereby created the first agriculturalists. This Taker philosophy was further emphasized through the gods' acceptance of Abel's cattle and denying of Cain's crop. The agricultural lifestyle of Cain is that of a Taker who relies on expanding upon his land ownership regardless of what is in his way. This is compared to the Leaver lifestyle of Abel where he is able to coexist without interfering with other species and people. The gods from the beginning favored the Leaver lifestyle where expansion was no longer needed to ensure survival. However, similarly to Abel, the Leaver society would continue to be killed and pushed off their land in order for the Takers to expand their agricultural empire, killing whatever got in its way. Like the gods said, for on the day you eat of that tree (Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil) you will certainly …show more content…

Any history book will be able to tell you about the numerous technological advancements that have taken place in our history, while numerous websites and essay will discuss the creation of different cultures. This novel, however, attempts to view the world as a whole and discuss its major "culture". This culture is shown to give people a different perspective on the err in their ways. While the distant Leaver society is able to live cohesively with nature to this day, Takers are not only struggling to work with nature, but are destroying any chance of them ever working with nature again. Through the use of personification on Ishmael, the author is able to show this separation of nature and man. Ishmael and his human like qualities allow him to act as a liaison between the civilized and natural worlds by providing information to bridge the gap between these two vastly different cultures. With the Narrator, this is the first time that Ishmael feels that he has succeeded in teaching a student. With his teaching complete, Ishmael is able to die knowing that his knowledge and teachings of the human cultures will not be in vain and can be continued. Before he dies, Ishmael instructs the Narrator to continue his teachings to help the world understand that to live connected to the Earth like the Leavers they must, "not reach back but to reach

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