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By The Waters Of Babylon Summary

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“If the Third World War is fought with nuclear weapons, the fourth will be fought with bows and arrows.” (Mountbatten) “By the Waters of Babylon” by Stephen Vincent Benet was written after WWI when the nations were debating if nuclear war was the answer. Benet, who was anti-nuclear war, wrote this story to represent what could happen to the United States if we were to go into a nuclear war with another nation. More specifically, what could happen in New York City, the city of dreams and opportunities. Although this story is fiction, it resembles the Hiroshima attack which caused terror in the city and people. An article written by Lily Rothman shows multiple people’s point of view, having interviews and quotes from survivors explaining what …show more content…

His father warned him about his dream of the Gods and who they really are, challenging his son’s choice to go on his journey. Once he left for his journey he came to the realization that the Gods Place was not deadly but ruined from a war that taken place previously. John describes the city, explaining that the towers were not broken completely as one or two of them standed tall. The longer he stays in the Gods Place he speaks of the gods, picturing what happened in the city that is now stained by the Great Burning and roads that are cracked and broken almost as if something smashed into the ground. As the story explains, “When gods war with gods, they use weapons we do not know. It was fire falling from the sky and a mist that poisoned. It was a time of the Great Burning and the destruction. They ran about like ants in the streets of their city.” (Benet 7) While the details in the story are small and could be easily missed, when comparing it later events this story is very insightful on what could happen in the future if nuclear war is used. The author portrays the aftermath of nuclear war, “Here and there were the marks and stains of the Great Burning, on the ruins, that is true” (Benet 4), similar to what the Hiroshima Article presents, concluding how many deaths and how much damage can be caused purely from nuclear

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Benét writes about John being conflicted with decisions about breaking the rules, which is shown through the use of internal conflict. John is the son of a priest and has followed rules his entire life (Benét 315). He tells his father about dreams he has been having, and he decides to go on a quest with the permission of his father (Benét 316). He waits for signals to tell him where to go, and after getting these signals, which were an eagle and three deer with a white fawn going east, he decides to go east (Benét 316-7).

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After exploring the god roads and going into one of the buildings, John has a vision in which he sees that those who once lived in this place were men, not gods, and that they were destroyed by fire that fell from the sky. In actuality, this is New York City in the far distant future, and it has been destroyed by bombs. Once John learns that the gods were men, he returns home where his father warns him not to tell his people the truth. Too much truth all at once could destroy their society.

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John starts to have dreams about seeing a “river, and, beyond it, a great Dead Place and in it the Gods walking.” John believes that he is given a sign through the dreams to visit the “Place of Gods”. He is passionate when it comes to the Gods, he loves to hear stories about them during the ancient times. John is a very hard-headed and ambitious character, his persistence is the only factor that makes him continue his long and tiring journey.

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