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Analysis: The Waters Of Babylon

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Knowledge is Not Always The Truth
Is knowledge always the same as the truth? In the story “The Waters of Babylon” the narrator John, who is the son of a priest is going on a quest for knowledge and finds out the truth. One day John has a very powerful dream so powerful that his father says, “It may eat you up” (Benet 312). The dream is of him going on a journey to “The Great Dead Places”. A place where only the priests and son of priests can go. John is given the knowledge about the gods from the priests. This is all that he knows because during this time priests were considered to be the wisest people in the village so everyone listened to them. Except, John has a burning passion to find knowledge on his own he states, “My knowledge made me happy—it was like a fire in my heart” (Benet 312). Here is John’s amazing journey to “The Great Dead place” to feed his burning passion for knowledge.
John begins his amazing journey to the “Great Dead Places” to fulfill his passion for knowledge. In doing so, John discovers that things are drastically different from what the presist have told them. The forest people are told that the ground burns forever in “The Great Dead Place”and that is an island covered with fog and enchantments. John begins his journey the night after his dream. John begins fasting at the start of the journey as it is …show more content…

On the other side of the river John saw it “The Great Dead Place”. John could not believe he had come this far. John then found himself in a predicament. He knew if he were to cross the river into the gods place he would die, but if he did not go he could never be at peace with himself. John says, “It is better to lose one’s life than one’s spirit, if one is a priest and the son of a priest” (Benet 314). Then John built a raft and began his journey across the great river. John was across the river and when he got off of his raft he realized something

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They both have been in situations that almost costed them their life. For John when he traveled through North Dakota and was tenting in the snowstorm he said, “If I fall asleep, I imagine that I will not wake up” (Pg. 209). At this time John is risking his life to keep traveling on foot. Another time when he first started walking, he was held at gun point. These near death experiences changed Johns life and he once said, “How interesting it is that men seldom find the true value of life until they are faced with death.”

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In the Hill People’s society in “By the Water’s of Babylon” by Stephen Vincent Benet, knowledge signifies power. Only priests possess knowledge; therefore, a reader must be able to infer that priests imperiously hold the power. John describes the knowledge secured by the priests saying, “I was taught the chants and spells--I was taught how to stop the running of blood from a wound and many secrets. A priest must know many secrets . . . I was taught how to read in the old books and how to make the old writings--that was hard and took a long time.”

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We must build again.” With John’s optimism to rebuild and learn, his passion to share his knowledge gives hope to bring back the civilization that has been lost to warfare and hate. He says on page 8, “Perhaps in the old days they ate knowledge too fast. “ With this he acknowledges that he will learn from the mistakes evident

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