Summary Of 'The Water Of Babylon' By The Waters Of Babylon

“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.

In “By the Waters of Babylon,” by Stephen Vincent Benét, set in a future following the destruction of industrial civilization, the story is narrated by a young man who is the son of a priest. The priests of John’s people,“the hill people,” are inquisitive people associated with the divine. They are the only ones who can handle metal collected from the home’s “also known as the Dead Places” of long-dead people whom they believe to be god's. Truth and knowledge are displayed as a role for priests to know and not everyone else; because, of consequences that could happen if someone knows too much. Truth and knowledge are only controlled by priests to keep everyone in the village safe; so, no one knows the truth about the gods or anything else that will let society fall to pieces. The narrator's journey and discoveries reveal that the not all knowledge is true. This discovery will influence his knowledge and actions for the remainder of his life.

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

In today's culture people use technology to their advantage all the time. They use it to hack, to learn the latest gossip, or to see breaking news around the world. But, sometimes they get obsessed and instead of a handy tool, it becomes a necessity and a lifestyle. In the story, The Veldt, Ray Bradbury uses imagery, symbolism, and internal conflict to express that misuse of technology can lead to unforeseen disadvantages.

Imagine going through life learning and following what is believed to be the true , just to find out that it is a lie. In the story “ By the Waters of Babylon” by Stephen Vincent Benet the narrator, John is on a quest to find more knowledge, however he ends up discovering unexpected truths on his journey that affects his lifelong beliefs. The story leads the reader to an interesting question: what is the relationship between knowledge and truth? Knowledge is the education or information that is gained about a subject, idea, or experience. Gaining knowledge is often helpful and rewarding to a person, however the information or facts that is received is not always the truth.

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

In Ted Chiang’s “Tower of Babylon”, the story serves as a pathway for the concept of the prominent fight between the existence of religion versus the intelligence of man in the genre of science fiction. The “Tower of Babylon” targets the self-righteousness and obliviousness of men when faced with any circumstances. Chiang shows the tower itself as a devotion to God in order to get closer to him in the story but in reality, is exemplifies man’s hubris which ultimately shows the man’s lack of humility towards God. The story starts off with introducing a group of miners from Elam hoping to achieve the goal of breaking the “vault of heaven”, which is the gateway to Yahweh’s paradise. Both miners from Elam and Egypt are gathered to decode this enigma, ultimately providing a utopia for mankind. As the men gear up for a long journey, they go over the basics of traveling up the tower in order. They have already figured out a way to go and break the vault, from growing a forest to supply wood for the tower to growing their own crops on the towers. The author now shows the main paradox the story is surrounded upon, they are confident and constantly uphold the superiority of their religion, but “rely on engineering rather than prayer”. The story is mainly focused on the adventure to the “vault” as “no deity makes an appearance in the story”. Specifically, man trying show their dominance in knowledge when facing God.

A mutual theme in the four literary texts Mrs. Shearn’s 2nd period class has read is humans can destroy themselves through each other and technology. Teasdale's poem states, “And not one will know of the war, not one will care at last when it is done” (stanza 4, lines 7-8). In Stephen Vincent Benet’s poem, ‘Nightmare Number 3,’ it talks about how humans created technology so advanced, that the humans were overpowered and demolished by their own creations (lines 16-19). In Stephen Vincent Benet’s other literary text, “By the Waters of Babylon,” the ‘Gods’ of the old world fought in a war and destroyed themselves. Through the ‘God’s’ own technology, they destroyed each other leaving only a few to survive (page 7-8). Ray Bradbury’s short story,

Two very good stories are The Chrysalids by John Wyndham and “By The Waters Of Babylon” by Stephen Vincent Benet. Both these stories are sci-fi and depict what human civilizations will be like after a nuclear holocaust. The result of the holocaust has altered the Hill People and Waknuk people’s morals and religious beliefs. The main difference between the stories is one is viewing the future as positive the other is portraying the future negatively. The Chrysalids was a better story. It portrayed what humans act like. In the following paragraphs many points will be looked upon to prove that The Chrysalids is a better story.

When drastic times occur and sweep one of everything they own, do they have a plan of action? Will they be prepared for a life without power, resources, and stability? Many times when people are faced with this situation they find themselves unprepared and unable to live in such conditions. They lose the connections with the world, the water they drink is likely to get contaminated, and the scarcity of goods is a threat to themselves and anyone left alive. Everywhere around them there is death and destruction leaving them isolated in their own dystopia. Pat Frank’s Alas, Babylon illustrates a nuclear bomb simulation. In such a way, he gives the readers a taste of isolation and survival needs when facing such drastic times.

“By the Waters of Babylon” is a short story written by Stephen Vincent Benét. The story involves a son of a priest named John going east to explore a ruined city which is known as the “Place of the Gods.” As the name implies, the city was believed to have been inhabited by gods. As John explores the city, he realizes that the gods were not actually deities; they were humans who were killed in a calamity that John refers to as the “Great Burning.” It is implied in the story that the gods were ultimately responsible for their own destruction. Many literary elements are present in “By the Waters of Babylon,” but arguably the most important element is theme. The theme of the story gives meaning to the story as a whole. The theme of this story is that knowledge can be dangerous if consumed too quickly. Benét presents this idea of knowledge being dangerous several times in the story—notably the at the end of the story, during John’s interactions with his father, and during John’s exploration of the Place of the Gods.

The contrast of the two settings in ‘By the Waters of Babylon’ helps to reveals the story’s purpose. John’s home is less advanced than the Gods. While John was on his quest to receive purification, he goes to the Place of the Gods. With in one of the houses he finds, “there was a washing place but no water…” (Benét 64).

At summer time in ancient Babylon, food is scarce that what to eat become a difficult problem. Due to low rainfall, the streams and rivers dries three month before the summer even reach, our crops withers and the fruit becomes small that Is not even attractive to plunge and eat, the crops and fruit are always filled with dust and a refuge to most small insect, boring holes on most of the crops and fruit. Our only source of water was the dams and the bore holes. But as summer, the volume of the water in the dams and bore holes reduced drastically that, what to also drink was an issue. Our dirty clothes go unwashed for many months. The fishes in the streams and rivers dries as a result, we exported fishes from our neighboring nations. Many livestock

Thesis: In the book Ray shows an advanced dystopian world where books are burned instead of being read, people then feel isolated and eventually go to way without even thinking. Both stories consist of uneducated people and how they have no desire to learn. Referring to by the waters of babylon, “It is forbidden to go to any dead places, only to search for metal [17]”.

“The Towers of Babylon”, by Shirley Ye, consists of 4 watercolour and acrylic paintings, as well as 2 relief sculptures. The abstract (meaning, relating to reality, however has been distorted to appear unreal) works of the series, speak about the dangers of urbanisation, references to the biblical tower of Babylon as well as the quote, “the higher you build, the greater you fall” (Edwin Almeida). This artwork as a series, will be the main focus of this review.