By The Waters Of Babylon Analysis

After a national tragedy has struck the United States, a group of survivors now has to learn how to survive on their own. In Alas, Babylon a nuclear war has just started that has majorly decreased the population in countries around the world leaving nuclear fallout in its path. Alas, Babylon takes place in the United States, Florida in a small town called Fort Repose. Frank writes, in his book Alas, Babylon, about Randy Bragg and a small group of survivors from River road that band together to take on all the changes that face them without the help from the government. The three methods of survival that Randy and his band of survivors use are making ways to process items and recharge batteries; reinventing old ways of transportation and replacing

able to get to the truth. This play stands as an example to let people into the ideas that these

were here before us. We must build again." They will learn the ways of the old

In the story “ By the Waters of Babylon” the narrator, John, is a priest who values knowledge greatly. In the story John states: “My knowledge made me happy--it was like a fire in my heart.” (312). Through the interpretation of this line the reader can infer that knowledge is very important to the narrator's culture and society. It is what inspires these quests and drives all of his actions. The narrator assumes that all of the knowledge that has been gained throughout a lifetime is true because he has yet to learn otherwise. In relation to John’s strong feelings about knowledge, He also feels as though he can never get enough. His need and desire for knowledge is described by the following quote: “Nevertheless, my knowledge and my lack of knowledge burned in me – I wished to know more.” (312). John

“‘I am not afraid,’ I said and looked at him with both eyes.” (Benét 458) The son told his father before going on his journey. By the Waters of Babylon is a thrilling story that was written by Stephen Vincent Benét about the son of a priest going to forbidden land. The story provides substantial details of the son’s journey and shows how a man when provided with an opportunity and an idea follows his instinct. The theme of this short story is that knowledge is eaten too fast without the thought of consequences.

“When you know the truth it will drive you insane”. The quote by Aldous Huxley perfectly encapsulates what happened to the character John throughout Brave New World. John idolizes the World State and always has wanted to go there. Since he has lived on a savage reservation his whole life he’s never known the luxuries such as “soma” and “feelies”. John has evolved a great deal throughout Brave New World, he started naive and hopeful, became skeptical of the World State’s greatness, and ended depressed and angry.

John was terrified of discovering the truth about his father. O’Brien explained that for John, “[Knowing] is to be disappointed. To understand is to be betrayed.” (242) While hiding the truth was convenient for John, the secrets piled up and ultimately proved to be too much of a burden. For as hard as John tried to cover up the truth, he always knew about his father’s drinking. “That was the worst part. The secret drinking that wasn’t secret,” O’Brien explained. (66) When Paul hanged himself, however, John was finally able to face the truth. He was still a child, and at the funeral he continually screamed in front of the entire procession, finally relieving himself of the burden of years of secrecy. While the truth of Paul’s alcoholism was not pretty, and was certainly less convenient to face than simply ignoring it, it was a significant relief for John. His mother explained: “I hate to say it, but it was a relief to have him out of the house. John and I, we both adored the man, but suddenly all the tension was gone and we could have supper without sitting there on the edge of our seats.” (97) Throughout the rest of John’s life, a similar process of hiding the truth and ultimately accepting it would repeat. As he progressed to the next stage of his life, as a young adult serving in the Vietnam War, John would bear a secret much heavier than his father’s

To find the truth, one may need to go against their beliefs. For example, when Lindsay needed to find information on Alfred Beach, architect of the Downside, she turned her friends away to discover the truth and veracity of the Downside. To illustrate,

Theme: Refusing to accept the truth is not new to John, he has been doing it since he was a boy, and once again these decisions will affect his later life in politics and in marriage.

John is a priest and the son of a priest and has a strong desire for knowledge, the reader can see this when he said, “My knowledge made me happy--it was like a fire in my heart” (Benet 312). From this thought, the reader can tell that John’s knowledge was an everyday necessity that he needed to have in order to function, like food or water. This also helps the reader understand how important knowledge is to John and the rest of society. The knowledge John receives is so important to him that it ultimately takes him on his quest and drives him to do certain things along the way. This is strongly shown when he commented, “Nevertheless, my knowledge and my lack of knowledge burned in me-I wished to know more” (Benet 312). With that statement, the reader notices that knowledge drove him to go on his quest because he wanted to learn more, because at this point he

John is a priest and the son of a priest and has a strong desire for knowledge, the reader can see this when he said, “My knowledge made me happy--it was like a fire in my heart” (Benet 312). From this thought the reader can tell that John’s knowledge was an everyday necessity that he needed to have in order to function, like food or water. This also helps the reader understand how important knowledge is to John and the rest of society. The knowledge John receives is so important to him that it ultimately takes him on his quest and drives him to do certain things along the way. This is strongly shown when he commented, “Nevertheless, my knowledge and my lack of knowledge burned in me-I wished to know more” (Benet 312). With that statement the reader notices that knowledge drove him to go on his quest because he wanted to learn more, due to the fact that at this point he believed his knowledge to be

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s short story “Babylon Revisited,” (rpt. in Greg Johnson and Thomas R. Arp, Perrine’s Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense, 12th ed. [Boston: Wadsworth, 2015] 199-216) begins in Paris at Ritz Bar when a character named Charlie Wales is introduced. Charlie Wales, is described as a renewed father who tries to regain custody of his daughter Honoria after his previous life of drinking and recklessness. Charlie’s old life of drinking and partying caused him to partake in numerous regretful activities, resulting in the death of his own wife, Helen. Due to Charlie’s actions, Honoria was put in guardianship with Helen’s sister, Marion. While Charlie claims to be over with his old habits, Marion questions if he actually is. F.

In “By the water of Babylon” by Stephen Vincent Benet the significance of knowledge is it creates power, which only the priest possess. Only the priests withhold the knowledge because they desire to hold the power in their society. At the end of page one John, the narrator, says he wished to gain more knowledge. The priest are the ones with the power and knowledge in his tribe so the reader can infer that John aspires for more power. Since the narrator is a priest’s son he can strive for higher knowledge; therefore, he also can attempt to gain higher power in his tribe. At the end of the story when John gains the knowledge of the Gods being men he says that he can not tell his tribe everything. John says he has to tell the truth little by little.

When civilizations were learning to think clearly and trying to come out of the darkness of ignorance, the ancient Masters of Bharat(India) were enquiring on the nature of Truth. The enquiry started with

Wallace elaborates by stating that most individuals know these truths on a certain level. These truths have been continuously ingrained in us through old wives tales and cliches. These truths are the "skeletons" of these pieces of literature. The reason for which the ingrained stories seem to not be performed in the real world is due to the fact that the truths behind these codified versions of the truth are not kept at the forefront of our minds. The truths hidden within these stories are what must be kept at he top of our conscious instead of the codified truths.