Ishmael Chapters 3 & 4

After finishing chapters 3 and 4 I found it very interesting that the narrator took so long to understand what Ishmael was getting at about the myths. It seemed to me that any time Ishmael asked him a question he kind of brushed it off saying that he didn't understand and then had Ishmael answer the question for him. I found this really interesting especially because in the beginning the narrator talks about how for a long time he looked for a teacher and now that he has one, he isn't participating the way I thought he would be. If he was so desperate for a teacher, why does he now act as if he doesn't care about what Ishmael is trying to show him.

This makes me think of what the room in the
office building looks like from Ishmael's perspective

After the narrator relates his story of how things came to be and Ishmael tries to tell him that it is a myth he gets extremely frustrated with him. So to prove his point Ishmael tells him the story about jellyfish. I found this entertaining because many people today think the same way that the narrator does. We believe that the world is here for man and that man is here to take charge of it. However, many times we don't bother to look past what we see as the "end" of the story. We don't think 'what comes next?' Like when Ishmael asks the narrator to imagine a world without man and he describes it as this awful place where the jungle has taken over.

In our world today many people see the world as something that we are in charge of. We control the plants and the animals, we control who is allowed to live where, we even (in some ways) control who can eat what. Humans see the Earth as ours and "take charge" over it, although it may not be in ways that are beneficial. Sometimes when you have complete control over something it loses its value. For example if you borrow something from someone you tend to take better care of it than if it were your own. I feel that humans do the same thing with the world. We see it as ours to do what we please and if we don't stop soon and do something else one day there will be greater consequences.