Don't Call Me Ishmael

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Don’t Call Me Ishmael Intro: Thesis-What is the main point you are trying to get across. Bullying is a growing modern day problem with almost everyone reaping its negative effects for some period of time in their life, especially during high school. “Don’t call me Ishmael” is a realistic young adult novel written by Michael Gerard Bauer. In the novel the author raises the issue of bullying, clearly outlining how cruel it is. Written in first person the protagonist and narrator Ishmael Leseur is faced with a school bully (Barry Bagsley), instead of standing up for himself, he isolates himself at school and home becoming more alone than ever. Nobody deserves to feel alone and everyone has their differences, these differences deserve to be accepted and often celebrated. Bulling is generally the result inflicted on others when particular differences will not be accepted. Bauer has set out “Don’t call me Ishmael” using character setting, narrative structure and setting to evoke the audiences negative views on bully. Argument 1: The way the characters are constructed in the novel to position the audience. Particular characters in “Don’t call me Ishmael” have unique and stereotypical nerd like attributes, which has helped the Bauer to construct the story into an anti bullying novel. Ishmael Leseur instantly attracts Barry Bagsley’s attention, on the first day Barry states “Ishmael? What kind of wussy crap name is that?”(p.g.18).This creates an overall feeling of sympathy from the audience towards Ishmael, who isn’t that different from other students at his high school, but his attributes that make him unique such as his intelligence, quietness, sense of apprehensiveness and most of all, his name are constantly used against him, creating an even stronger sense of sympathy for Ishmael among the audience. This highlights how the Bauer constructed the characters to

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