Ishmael Lesson Plan

What are the three “dirty tricks” that the gods played on the Takers? Why is the third one hardest to get over?

According to Ishmael, the gods played three dirty tricks on the Takers. The first was to put their world—Earth—out in the boondocks rather than in the center of the universe. Man—the climax of creation—deserves a place in the center. Second, the gods did not give man a separate, special act of creation. Instead, man evolved “from the common slime, just like ticks and liver flukes.” The third trick was the worst of all. The gods did not exempt man from all the laws that govern ticks, liver flukes, and all forms of life. The Takers adjusted to all the other...