Theme Of By The Water Of Babylon

The author’s purpose for the first two chapters is to connect with people, and help them understand where he comes from. This causes wonder in the minds of the readers, which helps the readers to stay interested in the book through the first two chapters. The author states in the story, “He

          In the story, “by the waters of babylon”, the character John is a protagonist. He is the son of a priest and wants john to become a priest too. The reason  that the character  John is a protagonist because his thoughts and emotions are expressed throughout the story. In the story the author states, “so i learned the ways of those houses-and if i saw bones, i was no longer afraid.”

Technology can be too smart for our own good. Nuclear bombs have killed innocent people and technology will too. In the Waters of Babylon by Stephen Vincent Benét there was a nuclear bomb that went off and destroyed everything but some people did survive. In There Will Come Soft Rains by Ray Bradbury there was a nuclear bomb that destroyed everything but a smart house. There Will Come Soft Rains was more disturbing than The Waters of Babylon because of the fact that it is about a house that has a brain type computer chip.

Did you know “it is strictly forbidden to cross the river and look upon the place of the gods”-By The Waters Of Babylon. Stephen Vincent Benet wrote “By The Waters Of Babylon”. He introduces the priest and the son of the priest John. In “The Waters Of Babylon” there was a quest to be fulfilled, but no one was brave enough to fulfill that. John felt an internal passion to go on the quest. So at the end he gained knowledge that everyone was afraid of. The author “By The Waters Of Babylon” uses modern society as textual symbols which are spirits and demons, deer, and a door with a broken lock.

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

In “By the Waters of Babylon” and “Harrison Bergeron”, the future is portrayed in a distant and dystopian world, where there is a significant difference in the way they live compared to the past due to a catastrophic disaster or a change and government. “By the Waters of Babylon” takes place in the far future, where society has started over from scratch due to a major event. A tribe banded together, regarding their priests at the top of the social hierarchy. They relied on priests to acquire metal from the Dead Places, an act that would kill an ordinary citizen, and to complete tasks like healing the injured and teaching the general population. Jon, a son of a priest and a priest in training, requested to travel to find answers about his strong dreams and to increase his knowledge: “My knowledge and my lack of knowledge burned in me- I wished to know more” (43-44). He was sent out on a journey, the final step to becoming a priest, and was given a warning to not travel into the Place of the Gods. After getting a

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

In this essay, I am going to compare and constrast the two stories. One is "By the Waters of Babylon" by Stephen Vincent Benet and the other is "Anthem" by Ayn Rand. In "By the Waters of Babylon", the author basically compares and the house of the gods and the Dead Place. In "Anthem", the characters in the story finds an underground place where no one should go.

Water is a clear, colourless, odourless, and tasteless liquid; an essential substance for most plant and animal life, and vital for human existence. In his novel, The Wars, Canadian author Timothy Findley uses water, one of the four elements of nature, and discusses its role in the nightmarish world of trench warfare and in a world gone mad. Water imagery serves an important role and it’s meaning evolves throughout the novel. Water symbolizes life, Robert’s transitions, and Robert’s shattered innocence, as well as the change that comes along with it.

“‘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.

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.

Newfound knowledge without understanding the consequences can bring about more damage that may outweigh any good believed to of been caused by the discovery. In the book By the Waters of Babylon the protagonist John lives in a society unlike any that exists today. His people are deeply religious and believe very strongly in a past world inhabited by Gods. This story takes the reader on a journey of uncovering the truth about the Place of the Gods while showing the reader how new discoveries can drastically change entire civilizations. Understanding the epic hero journey archetype allows the reader to follow the protagonist on his discovery of the past and the realization of the power that comes with it.

To lack knowledge someone should know by heart is a daily conundrum existing with Equality and the rest of the society, for the single exception of the House of Scholars, which even there, little of the knowledge we hold is taught there. Equality had other plans, however. He seeked knowledge, not a street sweeper job, another “sin” on his conscious. After discovering a tunnel to the underground, he held it secret, as too keep it safe, and a place to be truly private. By

A classic Faustian bargain is presented throughout the novel (Stierstorfer, 2003). Here, the protagonist compromises his standing; desperately craving for knowledge so that he may avoid death and rise above society in an almost suicidal pursuit. Such a Faustian idiomatic is suitable due to the semantic field of religion that follows throughout the novel. This is illustrated in the description of information as: “we are not witnessing the flow of information as much as pure spectacle, or information made sacred, ritually unreadable” (DeLillo 2003, p.80).