Ishmael 2

1.) anthropomorphism n. Attribution of human motivation, characteristics, or behavior to inanimate objects, animals, or natural phenomena. In this chapter it seems Ishmael is try to say that we as human beings try to make animals act similar to ourselves by giving them human characteristics like fighting over land to the death even if we know it's pointless. When animals realize there is no point to a squabble they stop and do not continue to fight. Most only live on instinct alone to survive so if they see that their is nothing left like food for example they will stop fighting because they are able to recognize truth swiftly and move on. Most humans cannot do this and reject hopeless situations with denial.

2.) a. Ishmael describes 'Erratic Retaliation' as a fair kind of pay back or way to extract vengeance. In the case of the Cawks this method works by allowing the right measures to be take for each offence. An example that could be used is this: Say a member of one tribe hurts someone from the other tribe. In order to have a fair punishment the tribe who's member was hurt would be allowed to hurt someone from that tribe. In a way it is almost like two wrongs make a right O.o

b.) 'Erratic Retaliation' is a peacekeeping method because it gives the culprit a taste of their own medicine. Someone steals a pen from you and you can steal a pen from them. It keeps people thinking, "Would I want this to happen to me?" It ties into treat others the way you wish to be treated and I suppose in this sense it keeps the peace.

c.) The Cawks do not just annihilate each other because they all want to survive and live on equal grounds so occasional attacks to get even are normal for them. I suppose it is that they see no point in completely destroying each other because this system of 'Erratic Retaliation' keeps the tribes in check. It is almost referring back to the previous text where Ishmael basically tells us "if it's not broken don't fix it." The Cawks almost seem to act like animals, being able to distinguish useless battles from ones with purpose. If one tribe annihilated another tribe it would say to the other tribes that they are free to annihilate them in return.

btw this kind of relates to the things we talk about in class.....