Ish is the protagonist, and apart from intermittent narrative digressions, the story is told exclusively from his perspective as the third-person omniscient narrator sticks close to Ish and details the world as he sees it. A graduate student and scholar, Ish frequently observes the events around him with a clinical eye, analyzing and cataloging rather than reacting.

Ish values intellectual achievement to such an extent that he regularly refers to George as “stupid” and to Evie as “half-witted.” He acknowledges Emma’s emotional strength but disparages her lack of education. He favors Joey above all the other children because, Ish believes, he is the only one who exhibits a “creative spark” and scholarly curiosity. Ish’s esteem for Joey is so high he refers to him as “savior.” While Ish represents a quintessential man of science and technological achievement, trained to be a leader, his character is also a product of the novel’s era: Earth Abides was written at a time when the United States was entangled in the Cold War and the dire technological competition was just beginning to ignite in the minds of the nation’s scientists.