How Does Pat Frank Use Direct Characterization In Alas Babylon

“Thus the lights went out, and in that moment civilization in Fort Repose retreated a hundred years. So ended the Day” (147). Alas, Babylon written by American writer Pat Frank centers around Fort Repose, a small coastal town, that somehow survives the soviet countless nuclear blasts. The people of the town have to come together to survive in the post nuclear world. Pat Frank uses indirect characterization, an ever changing setting, and external conflict to support his theme, “in the midst of chaos and fear, individuals must come together as a community in order to survive.”

Throughout the story, Alas, Babylon, Pat Frank uses indirect characterization to show in what ways individuals face fear, overcome chaos, and how they function in communities.

He would not be crushed with the mob… he would not allow himself to be humiliated… he found the old, nickel-plated revolver… he put it to his temple, wondering whether it would work. It did” (122). This indirectly characterizes Edgar and relates to the theme as Edgar, an established banker, refuses to put aside his pride and join the community as he believes he is of a higher status. Due to this mentality, making him an outlier to the theme, he does not make it long. The author also addresses fear as Edgar chooses to kill himself rather than face it. While many, including Edgar, refuse to put aside their differences and did not survive for long after The Day, a select few chose to function together as a troupe. For example, after Dan Gunn, the town's sole doctor, is mugged by the highwaymen one can see changes start to occur in Randy, the story's protagonist.Randy states, “‘I am an officer in the Reserve. I have been legally designated to keep order when normal authority breaks down. Which it certainly has here. And the first thing I must do to keep order is execute the highwaymen…’ Lib found it difficult to keep pace. She had never seen Randy look and speak and act like this before” (252-243).

Succeeding the launch of the first few nuclear missiles the audience gets a glimpse through Randy’s eyes on what has become of Fort Repose. Pat Frank describes the setting saying, “now the windows of a number of stores were shattered entirely, and glass littered the sidewalks. From alleyways came the sour smell of uncollected garbage. Most of the parking spaces on Yulee and St. Johns incongruously were occupied, but the cars themselves were empty, and several had been stripped of wheels” (147). Pat Frank's vivid description gives the reader a good feel for the place. What once was a small charming town within the matter of a few days has become an apocalyptic, barren wasteland. Pat Frank’s description of the setting shows just how quickly a place can change when pandemonium breaks out. Although all seems lost, when Randy and other Fort Repose inhabitants come together, things take a turn for the better. Near the end of the novel when Paul Hart and the decontamination command arrive, Randy and his crew are told some significant news. Pat Frank writes “he felt they were imposing, and that there were K-rations in the helicopter and that he actually expected to find the C.Z people all starving, because certainly most of them were in other parts of the country…’you are living in the largest clear area in the whole C.Z’…He