By The Waters Of Babylon Essay

The Dangers of 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

“By the Waters of Babylon” Paper The short story “By the Waters of Babylon” by Stephen Vincent Benet is set in an post-apocalyptic time. It is about a young male named John. He is the son of the priest. While growing up, his father is giving him knowledge about all the things to become a priest like how to search for metal, the ways of the house, chants, and spells. When he gain enough knowledge he was purified. After being purified he went on a journey to the east and across the river to see the

“‘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

Have you ever wondered if knowing the truth about something can cause damage to one and their surroundings? In “By The Waters of Babylon,” John, the narrator is on a quest for knowledge and discovers unexpected truths that change his beliefs. Having too much knowledge and knowing the whole truth can come at a price. However, there is a relationship between two that makes the existing knowledge contradict the truth. John was in the search for some knowledge, and got what was unexpected. He stated

This story without a time, By the Waters of Babylon is written by Stephen Vincent Benet in 1937. Although, the story is named Babylon this is not to be taken literally. Rather it is to be understood methorforically. The story takes place in New York City. The author takes you to a time where civilization has become degraded and deteriorated. A time where everything deprogressed. This is caused by what is happening today and in past history, war. The humans before them used their knowledge unwisely

The Truth and Knowledge 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

BY THE WATER OF BABYLON By the water of babylon by Stephen Vincent Benet is an intriguing piece of literature. Throughout this literature piece, reader see the undergo of a teenager named John into man. John setout for a captivating journey into manhood. Being the son of a priest he indeed was, he was set out for a spiritual journey to follow his father’s footstep. Despite being a young teenager, he didn’t know how his journey was going to unravel. Being ignorant he was, he wanted to acquire more

Finding Identity Through Obstacles In order for people to find their identity and learn the truth behind their culture, there should be significant obstacles to overcome. This theme is evident in the short story “By the Waters of Babylon” by Stephen Vincent Benét. Along the narrator’s journey, he faces several roadblocks that guide him to gain knowledge of himself and his culture that push him through many hardships. When the narrator first enters the forbidden place of the east with his father

Has one ever wondered about what would happen if our society ended and had to start completely over again. In the short story “ By the Waters of Babylon” talks about after society ended after a huge nucleus war. In the story , it mainly focuses on how normal people do not obtain knowledge about what happened as well as basic still like reading and writing. In this society the people believe in supernatural beings as their religion and in this the higher class was the priests and these priests know

The contrast of the two settings in ‘By the Waters of Babylon’ helps to reveal the story’s purpose. At the Place of the Gods, John finds out their technology is more advanced than his peoples. When John arrives he observes, “There was a cooking-place but no wood, and though there was a machine to cook food, and there was no place to put fire in it” (Benet 65). This technology that John observes is our oven but he does not know what that is. His people used a simpler version that uses fire as a