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Ishmael Companion: Beyond Civilization -- resources for teachers and readers
Another experiment in hierarchalism · A systemic problem · Beyond hierarchalism · A wrong direction: "giving up" things
Take this as a premise. You are a member of the Honored class of the Natchez. Two of your grandparents are Suns and two are Stinkards. Your father is a Stinkard and your mother is a Noble. You yourself will marry a Stinkard. Write a paper explaining how you feel about this system as it applies to you. Does it seem fair, unfair, tolerable, intolerable?
It seems like the "systemic problem" of the Natchez could have been solved or alleviated by combining the Honored class and the Stinkard class into one. Why might the Natchez have resisted such a solution?
Quinn says "the rest of us just want something else [besides hierarchalism]." Why does he "want something else" if (as he said a few pages back) he likes his present life? Is he saying that this is not an all-or-nothing proposition?
Do "things like security, hope, light-heartedness, and freedom from anxiety, fear, and guilt" seem "precious" to you? More precious than air conditioning? More precious than television?
Even though kids who run away to join the circus aren't doing so to give up things, they do in fact give up some things. What do they give up and what do they get in return?
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