Everything is Finished

The last chapter of Ishmael was a very good part of the book; you are able to notice the change in the student's personality, the way of thinking, and understanding things. You now have a wide perspective of what Ishmael wanted and that his mission had already been accomplished. The first impression you have when you start reading this chapter is that the student really wanted to rescue Ishmael, "…I had to rescue Ishmael from that goddamned carnival."(pg.257). He did almost the impossible and had some inconveniences that make his wish come true after some long time, but after being able to get some money to buy Ishmael.

He returns to the carnival, but he was disappointed at what he saw; the carnival was gone. He had been there so much time; he remembered exactly where Ishmael's cage was, so he went there. He was amazed at what he saw, everything Ishmael had was thrown and left behind, "…the blankets I'd bought for him had been left behind, had been dumped in a messy pile along with other things I recognized…" (pg.260). He stood there for a long time and had no idea of what was to come. A person was near and told him that Ishmael was dead, "It was the pneumonia that got him-your friend the ape."(pg.260) he was shocked! He got everything that had been left behind and wanted to take it with him, "I left the blankets, of course, but the rest all fit easily under one arm."(pg.261).

The student changed in a very positive manner, at the beginning of the book he was angry at the ad Ishmael had put, but now you can observe that he was more sensible to almost everything, especially the news that Ishmael was dead, "Someone else would have handled it differently, probably better, revealing a greater heart, a finer sensibility."(pg.261). When he was looking back at Ishmael's possessions, and went to frame the poster he had in his office, and he noticed it had another message on the other side, the poster said:"WITH MAN GONE WILL THER BE FOR GORILLA? The message on the other side reads: WITH GORILLA GONE WILL THERE BE HOPE FOR MAN?"(pg.262-263). When I read this, I couldn't believe what I was reading, at first I thought the way most people would, how could gorillas survive if humans didn't exist?, but after thinking about it, I got another perception, if gorillas such as Ishmael didn't exist, how would people be able to notice the change and impact humanity has caused?