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The Waters Of Babylon Analysis

Decent Essays

What would happen if no one ever recorded history? What values would humanity have? Would we be able to learn anything? In the short story, “The Waters of Babylon” by Stephen Vincent Benet, Benet displays his story to be in a futuristic post-apocalyptic world that was destroyed due to the fact that the people who lived in it failed to record their history. The main character, John, has to go on a quest to learn more about his ancestors and get more information about the world they lived in. When he finishes the quest, he and his father go to the city of his ancestors and try to rebuild the world from square one. History should be recorded so that the world does not end up like John’s world, history should be taught on to generations and …show more content…

Some people believe that history is not important, others strongly disagree, their point is not going to go unnoticed though. Some people want to live life one day at a time and not have to worry about how their actions could affect themselves or their future. Living life one day at a time sounds refreshing but it is unrealistic. We would still be cavemen if we didn't use our knowledge to help us advance. Ignorance is not the answer especially if we hope to continue our advancement’s in the world. Not having history can also affect how you see people from the past. We know that the people here before us were ordinary people not gods but John does not know that, John thinks that his ancestors are godly and mysteriously hidden behind their ambiguity. John realizes that his ancestors are ordinary people but this is not because of the knowledge he was taught in a history book, this is because he had to take a strenuous journey to find his own answers. “That is all of my story, for then I knew he was a man—I knew then that they had been men, neither gods nor demons. It is a great knowledge, hard to tell and believe. They were men—they went a dark road, but they were men. I had no fear after that—I had no fear going home…” (Benet, 466) John is relieved after he discovers the truth behind these “holy gods” he had been told about, he understands that the people who lived before him are no more capable than him to create an impact on the world. After he discovers this, he

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