Building roads

In this chapter, Ishmael lost contact with his pupil for a while because he didn’t pay his bills and he was removed from the apartment. The pupil was really worried about this event because he had gotten used to visiting the gorilla, and he hadn’t finished his learning. He looked for the gorilla everywhere where he figured Ishmael could be at, or at least people who knew. He found no answers so he decided to look for him in a circus that had been in the city a while ago. He did find his mentor in a corner, changed and distant. “I didn’t invite you to make yourself my patron,” he said, “so kindly refrain from patronizing me” (p.195). This shocks the pupil, because he feels his work looking for him wasn’t being appreciated. He leaves, but with his mind set on coming back to his mentor to acquire more knowledge. This shows how much he values the teachings of Ishmael, and how much he had come to appreciate the gorilla.
When he does come back and they manage to continue with the teachings, they talk about culture and certain knowledge. They trace back the beginnings of culture and the way how its passes on from generation to generation. It helps us identify the role of culture on how we view things and on how we make decisions. “Certain knowledge is knowledge of the one right way. That’s what takers want”(p.204). People try to find a one way to live, a single way of living that will always tell them what to do. But there isn’t always a right way, and sometimes many ways are right, but there’s times where none are right. And that’s what we have to take into account, the choice of how we are going to live our live, and under what set of rules. Are we going to follow the culture and rules that the takers have imposed? Or are we going to have the courage to change our minds, to think outside the box, and to leave out a mark on this life, an opening for a new path besides the main road.