My Ishmael

My Ishmael is presented as the final copy of a book published by Julie Gerchak, who has herself read the book Ishmael. At the time she begins writing, Julie is sixteen; however, during the main plot of her story, she is merely twelve years old: "a plucky, resourceful, near-genius with a wobbly home life".^[1] Like the narrator of Ishmael, Julie discovers a newspaper advertisement from a teacher seeking a student who wishes to save the world. Julie discovers that the teacher is a gorilla, Ishmael, with whom she can communicate telepathically. When she asks Ishmael if he will teach her, he is initially ambivalent due to her very young age, though her skillful arguments convince him that she may indeed be open to his maieutic teaching style.

The novel mostly proceeds as a dialogue between Julie and Ishmael. Julie has come to Ishmael in search of a teacher due to anxiety about civilization's destructive impact on human well-being and the environment. She recounts a daydream of being recruited to go on a space mission to visit other planets and thereby learn solutions around the galaxy for Earth's many problems. Julie and Ishmael discuss a variety of topics, including the hidden mythology that drives our modern industrial and agricultural civilization, which disparages the foraging lifestyle of other societies; the evolution of humans by natural selection; the rise of social hierarchies; and the differing values between traditional foraging societies versus modern civilization. Julie ultimately learns she does not need to travel around the galaxy to find solutions. Instead, Ishmael directs her to think about how historical and present-day evidence demonstrate the successes of indigenous tribal communities.

Julie visits Ishmael as often as possible and notices a man sometimes leaving Ishmael's office: Alan Lomax (later revealed as the previously unnamed narrator of Ishmael). Julie feels an odd distaste for Alan, although she has never met him face-to-face. Ishmael maintains both pupils, though his teachings are not necessarily the same for each. With Julie, Ishmael discusses how human communities living in the wild compete but do not go as far as war, which is largely an invention of modern civilization. He also discusses how major social institutions like law and education operate differently and more effectively in forager societies.

Julie eventually meets Art "Artie" Owens, born in the Belgian Congo (later Zaire), a friend of Ishmael who intends to help him return to the West African jungle. Owens is a lifelong naturalist who grew up with Mokonzi Nkemi, the president of the (fictional) Republic of Mabili, a nation that has recently gained independence from Zaire. Owens, meanwhile, became a dual citizen of Zaire and Belgium, traveling to the United States and attending Cornell University, where he met a student who introduced him to Ishmael. Later, in Zaire, Owens helped the revolution that founded Mabili and became its interior minister for only a few months before he realized Nkemi's corrupt dealings with Zaire's President Mobutu. Exiled from Mabili, Owens fled back to the U.S. and purchased an animal menagerie, where he plans to house Ishmael for his last days in the U.S.

Ishmael and Owens now ask Julie to attain President Nkemi's permission to return Ishmael to the Mabili wilderness. Julie is astounded at first, initially wondering if they should ask Alan Lomax for help instead, but they deem Alan untrustworthy. She finally agrees to the potentially dangerous five-day trip and is drilled on how to act and be wary in African cities, including conversing with Mabili's leaders. In Mabili, Julie poses as a student who has won an essay-writing contest promising her a trip to meet Mabili's president. Upon meeting Nkemi, Julie claims that Ishmael is a gorilla who has gathered an American following of supporters who wish to see him successfully released back into the wild. When Nkemi asks why he should help her, she charms him with a parable asserting that they are bringing back to the land a beloved creature that was once lost.

Back in the U.S., Julie hears from Owens that Ishmael has completed the journey back to Africa. She also learns why Alan Lomax was not trusted with this mission: he was becoming too attached to Ishmael as his teacher. With this in mind, Alan is told that Ishmael has died. Such a ploy is regarded as successful since it motivates Alan to write the book Ishmael in 1992. Though Julie wishes to publish her book, this very story, Owens forbids her from doing so until Mobutu's regime (and with it, Nkemi's) is on the verge of collapse since the book might put Ishmael in danger by revealing to the authorities that he is still alive. However, in 1997 (when Julie is eighteen years old), Owens finally contacts Julie, telling her that Mobutu's days are numbered and she may publish My Ishmael at last.