Ishmael Alternative Ending Log- 9/28/09

Oh the classic alternative ending that never makes the pages...I think that it was a pretty good call to keep this section from being published. It is very interesting to read and makes some excellent points, but this particular ending is very anti-climactic. It does not give a very solid feel to the end of the piece. The whole bumper sticker ending is very intriguing as well, but is way off base as to the themes in the book, as well as the way Quinn wrote the rest of the book from a stylistic standpoint.

The point that Ishmael is no son of God was also and interesting excerpt. I didn't realize until reading this that he truly didn't show us the one right way to live, but rather the only way to survive. Ishmael was very good at making the reader think, but did not have the answer for us.

As for the bumper sticker slogan that Ishmael should have came with, the idea follows the theme of how Ishmael taught. He never GAVE his students the answers, but rather had them come up with the answer themselves. In the same way, a slogan would not have been revealed, but should be discovered by the student, and in this case, the reader.