Stephen Vincent Benet's 'By The Water Of Babylon'

African Americans have been discriminated and were not treated fairly from the beginning of the American colonies up to the 1960s. Their history included about 250 years of slavery followed by another 100 years of discrimination. However, many people state that throughout the 1800s, the whaling industry helped African Americans thrive as a race. In addition, they were treated as equals and could gain glory and wealth from it. In most cases, this is not true because negroes for three main reasons. Almost all African people did not receive high positions on their crew ships. Also, they experienced segregation on ships and were treated not equally. Finally, they were taken for their cheap and hard labor in a dangerous, unrewarding industry. Using internet sources and the novel, In The Heart of The Sea, by Nathaniel Philbrick, African Americans in the whaling industry had low status within crews and faced harsh working conditions as well as discrimination and racism.

By The Waters Of Babylon is a short story written by Stephen Vincent Benet in 1937. The story is told by a man named John is the son of the priest, the story is told in the future after the destruction of industrial civilization. In the story John lies to his father and tells his father he is going on a spiritual journey but in reality he is going to the homes of the dead. The homes of the dead, is a place which is forbidden to everyone except for the priests. Moral of the story John states that ‘ we must build again ‘ once he becomes the head priest.

ere is one major thing that people desire most. Knowledge. The similarities between John from “By the waters of Babylon” and Guy Montag from “F451” are impressive, and they are worthy of thorough assessment. In this paper I will compare John and Montag’s motivation, struggle, and outcome for their quest for knowledge. Careful review of their motivation, struggle, and outcome are worthy of thorough assessment.

In the stories Harrison Bergeron and By the Waters of Babylon both present a similar plot about society in the future. Both main characters, John and Harrison, question the beliefs and knowledge in their society. For example, Harrison does not agree with the system of everyone being equal; and John’s journey to the Place of Gods lets him gain the knowledge and truth about these places and people to help the people in his society understand.

Knowledge can provide an individual with a lot of power. Knowledge has been used as a form of power and control throughout the ages, rulers and politicians using it to control and guide their people. This is what is happening in Stephen Vincent Benet’s post-apocalyptic story, By the Waters of Babylon. In this short story the priest are the ones who have power over the people, because they possess more knowledge than the others in their society. We follow a priest named John, who has gone on a journey and finds the ruins of New York City, and learns the truth about the so called “gods” that resided there. Throughout the story John is enlightened, at first not knowing much about the world and the downfall of the human race. By the end of the story, John is a changed man. He has discovered what truly

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

In the short “By the Waters of Babylon” By Stephen Vincent Benet the protagonist John. The son of an elite priest who travels to the forbidden place of the Gods where no one is allowed to go. The Major theme John’s father introduced was “Truth is a hard deer to Hunt. If you eat too much truth at once, you may die of the truth” (Benet 255). John’s father is telling him not to reveal too much truth because of the fear it will hurt peoples’ faith and will contradict it. In addition, if people are believing in one religion and have faith in it, if they discover too much of the truth about that religion which they are not supposed to know it will hurt their belief. The truth can also be harmful to people whose faith challenges those truths. To begin with, in the story John is portrayed as a very unique individual and different from average priests because when he touches metal he does not die, also John and his dad have learned and read from the books so they are very educated which a lot of people in their era at that time were not.

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

Which would you value more-knowledge, or truth? Stephen Vincent Benét explores this question in his short story “By the Waters of Babylon”. However, Benét doesn’t answer this question exactly, instead “By the Waters of Babylon” focuses more on a singular theme that knowledge and truth are intertwined. Benét brings the reader into a post-apocalyptic world where humans have resorted to a more primitive state after the “Great Burning”(310). Now the only humans left with any knowledge are the Priests, and John happens to be the son of one. John has been exposed to the only remaining knowledge that he’s been told his society has at that the time and now quest for more. This burning desire that John has to know more of

Knowledge and truth are viewed completely different when you find out both. In “By the Waters of Babylon,” John, the narrator, figures that out when he learns the unexpected about everything that he was taught. Growing up John was taught by his father, a priest, about the gods and the Dead Places and what they were like but no one was allowed to go there. John later has a very strong dream and he goes on a quest to figure it out and learns everything about the dead places is not what he was taught.

“By The Waters of Babylon” is a short story written by Stephen Vincent Benet that explores the innate behaviors of human beings and describes the aftermath of a nuclear war. In the beginning of the story, the narrator, John, introduces a taboo that is normal amongst his tribe,“The Hill People.” This indigenous law states that it is forbidden to cross the great river and to look upon the Place of the Gods, for it was greatly populated with spirits and demons. As a manifestation of John’s step towards adulthood or priesthood, John embarks on his curiosity voyage to the Place of the Gods, defying the well established rule within their tribe. Upon his arrival, he stumbles on an elusive and isolated setting with advanced technologies, which he deemed magical. Due to John’s expedition, he accumulated a plethora of knowledge and soon realized that the Place of the Gods was only a superstition and it was, in fact, a city of men.

Knowledge is something you learn and are taught. It’s something you believe to be the truth. But what if it’s not? What if you were to find out that what you have been taught is false. In “By the Waters of Babylon” by Stephen Vincent Benét, the narrator, John, goes on a quest for knowledge, but instead finds the truth. He discovers that the knowledge he was taught is not always the truth, and must find the relationship between these two.

Knowledge is the beginning of wisdom. Knowledge is a gift from God. Knowledge is God, God is a someone, not a something. Full knowledge concerning God can’t be explained.

Albert Einstein once said “It has become appalling obvious that technology has exceeded our humanity. The short story By the Waters of Babylon written by Stephen Vincent Benet is written around the effects of technology. In this story, the son of a priest discovers that they had destroyed their entire world with the overuse of technology. As the son himself said, “perhaps in the old days they ate knowledge too fast”. This caused them to create negative effects which destroyed their world, and caused them to live a different life. Technology can have detrimental effects on the Earth, which can lead to destruction but there is still hope for new beginnings.

Knowledge isn't power. This relates in Flowers for Algernon because he who believed if he was “normal” or smart like everyone else he would have more friends or live a better life. This wasn't true at all. He ended up losing friends and being an outcast. In Adam and Eve they also believed knowledge was power. They believed that if they bit from the tree of knowledge they would gain knowledge and be like god. Another theme is think about it before you risk it all. Charlie risked his happiness to be “normal” or be “just like everyone else” ,Adam and Eve risked their freedom in hopes to find knowledge or