In his book titled American Babylon: Race and Struggle for Postwar Oakland, Historian Robert Self places the actions of two groups together in Post-World War II, Oakland, California: a movement centered on black power that stressed community defense and empowerment in ending Jim Crow laws, which notably included the group known as the Black Panthers, and another movement that was primarily white property owners intent on creating a secure economic environment. Both of these two groups, with their own political agendas, argues Self, were instrumental in the development and growth of the political culture not just in the postwar suburbs of Oakland, but in the entire state of California. Charting the rise of these two groups as well as how their
The overall argument of Robert O. Self’s Introduction, in the book “American Babylon,” are the different aspects of postwar Oakland and the East Bay, socially, economically, and politically. There are three key claims Self makes in the Introduction. First, Self claims there were two controversial political ideologies in postwar Oakland, one being black power, including politics of deference and empowerment, and second a neo-populist, conservative homeowner politics of white residents. Another claim Self makes is the idea that the postwar black struggle and politics of suburban building shaped the political culture in Oakland and the East Bay. The third key claim Self makes is the modernization of space; space as property, as a social imagination, and as a political scale.
One often wonders if they would be able to survive in a time of crisis, some spend a bunch of time and money preparing for a crisis. Survival of the fittest refers to natural selection which is “the idea that species that acquire adaptations that are favorable for their environment will pass down those adaptations to their offspring” (Scoville 1). Survival of the fittest means “the best physical specimen of the species and only those in the best shape and best health will survive in nature” (Scoville 1). In Pat Frank’s Alas, Babylon survival of the fittest comes into play in time of crisis; Randy Bragg, Edgar Quisenberry and Preacher Henry find this out the hard way after The Day.
The “Rap-Back” Of Tech In the two stories, “Harrison Bergeron”, and “By The Waters Of Babylon”, the world is “destroyed”, or “remade”, after a technological “break-down”. Tech can very easily lead us to our own imminent demise, none the less it’s own, but usually, it may only do so with our allowing it.
The next book I chose for the point of view of limited omniscient was the first book in the Harry Potter series Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling. This novel is about a young wizard who discovers his magical heritage, and makes friends and even enemies in his first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. This type of point of view is where the narrator knows the thoughts and feelings of only one character in the story. Just like a first person narrator, this type of point of view gives you a strong understanding of the main character and helps the reader to really relate to them. This method really makes it easy for a reader to really get to know one specific character in the story.
In “By The Waters of Babylon” the narrator John travels to the city of the gods, (which is forbidden) because he had seen the gods in his dreams. When he gets there he discovers a dull and abandoned town of New York. He then realizes that the gods were just men.
“My heart was troubled about going east, on the God roads.” (178) John was scared for his journey because nobody else was willing to do so and nobody else knew of what was beyond their own little civilization. John went through both a physical and a mental travel when he lets for the city, to find the truth and know the history of his world that his father would not tell
Throughout the existence of literature, there have been numerous pieces that portrays life in a dystopian American. In the narrative, "By the Water of Babylon", Stephen Vincent Benet tells the story of a young priest 's journey to gather metal in a post-apocalyptic New York City. In contrast, the Pulizter Prize winning novel, The Road, Cormac McCarthy displays the hardships faced by a middle-aged man and his adolescent son as they travel south through an ash covered wasteland that were once the Appalachian Mountains. Even though these pieces of fiction are seperated by decades of various turmoil, the authors accomplish numerous comparisons and contrasts that exemplify a post-apocalyptic America.
The “Waters Of Babylon” is an optimistic story. The story revolves around the protagonist John as he makes his way to the forbidden “Place of the Gods”. Once in the Place of the Gods he realizes that this place was not inhabited by Gods but instead by humans (page 8). After this epiphany, John understands that his people could accomplish the achievements from past. On page 8 he says, “Nevertheless we make a beginning . . .
In the short story, By the Waters of Babylon, the narrator is on a journey for knowledge and discovers unexpected truths that change his beliefs. On his journey, John makes the highly significant discovery that the Place of the Gods was just a city, and that the Gods themselves weren’t actually gods; in fact, they were man, just lie to himself and his people. This shatters all of the myths, taboos, and many cultural beliefs of his people. A lot of their existence centers around those mythical “gods” and the strict rules concerning their dead places and the great burning. John realizes, on his journey, the significance of this discovery.
The interpretation of the theme – truth in “By the Waters of Babylon” In the short story “By the Waters of Babylon” the author Stephen Vincent Benét conveys the theme, “truth is a hard deer to hunt, if you eat too much of it at once, you may die of the truth” (Benét, 255). Which is a hyperbolic metaphor that means truth is like knowledge, hard to find. So, if too much of it is eaten at once, death is likely; as in truth is dangerous and hard to regulate among people if it is boundless. When the protagonist John was tired after travelling to the forbidden Place of Gods seeking knowledge, he fell asleep in one of the big dead-houses.
“Babylon Revisited” is a short story that tells of an American revisiting Paris after an absence of two years following the stock market crash of 1929, comparing what he sees now to the years prior to the Crash. “Babylon Revisited” by F. Scott Fitzgerald shows both Paris and Charlie Wales in distinct contrast; from wild, extravagant, and impulsive prior to the Crash of 1929 to sober, conservative, and reflective following the Crash. The city in the pre-Crash years was prosperous, where rich Americans recklessly threw their money around, giving “thousand-franc notes given to an orchestra for playing a single number, hundred-franc notes tossed to a doorman for calling a cab” (XXX). Gaining wealth in the stock market, Charlie and his wife Helen,
Sapp John Sapp Hensley English 11/ Fourth Period 05 February 2018 Part 12: Rough Draft “Babylon Revisited” is a very detailed and well written story that has many ups and downs bound to leave the reader on the edge of their seat. F. Scott Fitzgerald uses many different types of writing techniques in “Babylon Revisited” to make this story grab the reader’s attention even more so than some of his previous works. Fitzgerald’s style portrays one of the most important aspects of this book by far, setting the tone for this story giving you more details throughout.
Is what you know all a lie or have you found the truth? In the story “By the Waters of Babylon” the narrator, John, discovers the truth about the civilization of the gods. John is the son of a priest and is being held to high expectations. John sets off on a journey that will change everything he has ever known. John finds the truth of the gods.
By The Waters of Babylon The definition of the word apocalypse by the Greek is applicable in the book ‘By The Waters of Babylon’ in the sense that once the narrator John, the to be priest, discovers that the ‘gods’ that he and his tribe’s men have been looking up to is a man like them, he in turn derives that longing to acquire that knowledge that their ‘gods’ had in their life as he looks to make his people understand them and the knowledge they had to use it to better their lives as compared to the lives that their ‘gods’ had that led to their destruction. The reason that drives me to this answer is built from the understanding established from the book and the example that is evident from the book is the journey that the narrator undertakes
