Why Is It Significant That Ishmael Is A Gorilla?

Why Is It Significant That Ishmael Is A Gorilla? Throughout the novel, Ishmael is used as a distancing mechanism by the author; Quinn puts his own philosophical theories in the mouth of a gorilla to upset readers’ expectations about and biases against other life-forms and their intelligence. Why is the gorilla named Ishmael? Walter Sokolow