Complex Appeals to Time in Ishmael

The novel Ishmael seems to utilize Killingsworth's theory of the complex appeals to time. According to Killingsworth, the complex appeals to time means that "time becomes a position of value that authors use to draw audiences to their own positions. Authors may appeal to the past, present, or future, but the focus tends to fall on the need for change, the pursuit of something new, in the present". That does ring a bell because the main theme of the novel is about realization for a need to save the world and make it sustainable for all species.

There are many references to the past that form the appeal to the past. We see the inclusion of the 1960s social revolutions and also the Holocaust in the backstory of the novel. However, the story draws the reader back to the present and focuses on the conversation between Ishmael and the narrator which explores the main theme. Hence, the use of the complex appeals to time in the context of the novel is evident.