By the Waters of Babylon Essays

  • The Waters Of Babylon: Themes In By The Waters Of Babylon

    1237 Words  | 5 Pages

    In the story “By the Waters of Babylon,” we come across fascinating characters throughout the story as the protagonist John the son of a tribal priest explains his journey and strive for success as the story goes continues. The other character we come across in the story is John 's Father who conducts the ceremony initiating his son to tribal to the tribal priesthood. In addition, we meet John 's Brothers who are the hunters in the story. Finally, the Forest People are the Ignorant rivals who are

  • Waters Of Babylon

    882 Words  | 4 Pages

    The excerpt “By the waters of Babylon” is about a young boy, named John, who is turning into man. For him to turn him into a man, he has to could go on a journey anywhere he pleases except to the east and the Place of the Gods. John defines his father who told him not to go there and John goes there in the end. The Place of Gods we later found out is like New York and that this story is set place in the future. John calls the people who used to live there as gods except they were just like John and

  • Summary Of By The Waters Of Babylon

    796 Words  | 4 Pages

    The main character in “By the Waters of Babylon” is John, he is the protagonist of the story. He has shown audacity and ambition in his character. John 's father is a priest and a minor character in the story. As a father, he made his son a priest and independent on what he wants to do. He let John know of the dangers that anticipate him to the forbidden area, which proves that he is a good father. Clearly, John was successfully arrived in the Place of Gods because of his bravery and boldness. The

  • Summary By The Waters Of Babylon

    842 Words  | 4 Pages

    “Truth is a hard deer to hunt. If you eat too much truth, you may die of the truth.” - By the Waters of Babylon. In the story “By the Waters of Babylon,” the characters are John, John’s father, The Priest, and humans that are portrayed as Gods in the story. The main character in the story is John, he is defiant and ignorant and he develops throughout the story. John is defiant because he disobeyed his father’s order and went east. He is also ignorant because John is not aware about the so called

  • Summary Of By The Waters Of Babylon

    706 Words  | 3 Pages

    thirst for knowledge is inevitable in human nature. Harnessing Statements: The short story “By the Waters of Babylon” explores the idea of a post-apocalyptic world where the advancement of technology leads an entire city to extermination. As a result, the consequences of mankind’s mistakes determines the outcome of the future. Thesis Statement: Stephen Vincent Benét’s “By the Waters of Babylon” uses the rise and fall of civilization to demonstrates the destructiveness of mankind. BODY PARAGRAPH

  • By The Waters Of Babylon Analysis

    872 Words  | 4 Pages

    The characters in the story By the Waters of Babylon are John and John’s father. John is the protagonist and the narrator of the story. John is the protagonist and main character of the story because he victoriously entered the Place of Gods. John arrived back to his village and provided them with information about the Place of Gods. Before john’s discovery of the Place of Gods, his village strongly believed the Place was sacred. John’s discovery cleared up all the assumptions. John is a developing

  • Summary Of By The Waters Of Babylon

    1079 Words  | 5 Pages

    By the Waters of Babylon In the "By the Waters of Babylon" the plot is John, a young man destined to be a priest in his village, goes on a quest to the Place of the Gods to gain knowledge. Even though it is forbidden by the priests of his village to go there, his dreams have told him that he must. After traveling through the woods and avoiding the enemy Forest People, he comes to the Hudson River and struggles to cross it. Once he reaches the Place of the Gods, he finds that it is in ruins. After

  • By The Waters Of Babylon Analysis

    842 Words  | 4 Pages

    “Truth is a hard deer to hunt. If you eat too much truth, you may die of the truth.” - By the Waters of Babylon. In the story “By the Waters of Babylon,” the characters are John, John’s father, The Priest, and humans that are portrayed as Gods in the story. The main character in the story is John, he is defiant and ignorant and he develops throughout the story. John is defiant because he disobeyed his father’s order and went east. He is also ignorant because John is not aware about the so called

  • Themes In 'By The Waters Of Babylon'

    896 Words  | 4 Pages

    Theme: There are a plethora themes in this story, perhaps the utmost observable and distinguishable theme is the price for knowledge. Throughout the exposition of the story, the reader witnesses Johns’ tribe clueless about metals. In the story, it states “...he who touches the metal must be a priest or the son of a priest...He gave me the metal to hold—I took it and did not die…”. This portrays how concealed they are about knowledge, they presume he who touches metal ought to be a priest, if not

  • By The Water Of Babylon Analysis

    1168 Words  | 5 Pages

    Introduction: The story “By The Water Of Babylon”, written by Stephen Vincent Benet, has a plethora of aspects of literary elements that depict the story. The following analyzes the story using the seven elements of fiction. Setting: The story takes place around New York, a plethora of generations after a fatal war came around, which desolated civilizations. A reason that contribute to why the author chose NY is because it is an urban place and it has numerous technological advancements. A tribe

  • By The Waters Of Babylon Sparknotes

    926 Words  | 4 Pages

    “By the Waters of Babylon” Paper In the short story, “By the Waters of Babylon” by Stephen Vincent Benet, the setting is post-apocalyptic and is about what Benet thought the world would be after the events of WWII. In this story, the world was destroyed and people forgot the important knowledge that was known during that time period. The simple knowledge they know now is how to hunt, and that there is a place where the gods live. When the main character, John, went to the Place of the Gods, which

  • The Waters Of Babylon Analysis

    792 Words  | 4 Pages

    By The Waters of Babylon” written by Stephen Vincent Benet, explores the innate behaviors of human beings and describes the aftermath of a nuclear war. In the beginning of the story, the narrator, John, introduced a tribal taboo that is abided amongst “The Hill People.” This indigenous law states that it is forbidden to cross the great river and to look upon the Place of the Gods, for it was greatly populated with spirits and demons. As a manifestation of John’s step towards adulthood or priesthood

  • By The Waters Of Babylon Summary

    877 Words  | 4 Pages

    “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

  • Analysis: By The Water Of Babylon

    1315 Words  | 6 Pages

    The unfamiliar readers, reading “ By the Water of Babylon” for the first time, they would consider the story takes place in ancient times, but unfortunately this is not the case. People believe that we’ve left the uncivilized ways of solving problems behind, but to our disappointment is something that is engraved in our modern ways of thinking. Our ways of solving a disagreement have gotten more radical, and more powerful .Our weapons nowadays are millions times more powerful than they were hundreds

  • Analysis: The Waters Of Babylon

    871 Words  | 4 Pages

    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

  • By The Waters Of Babylon Summary

    754 Words  | 4 Pages

    The author in “By the Waters of Babylon”, tells how he wants to find knowledge and how he will go and find the knowledge. The author would like to find the truth. The authors father is a priest and the author would also like to be a priest himself. He would like to follow in his father's footsteps. He wants to go into the dead place to find out knowledge and find the truth. The author goes into the Dead place with his father a few times. The Dead place is a place where only priest can go. The author

  • By The Waters Of Babylon Literary Analysis

    1569 Words  | 7 Pages

    I believe knowledge comes at a price for many reasons. All knowledge comes at a price, but depending on what it is. Knowledge is the most powerful weapon and it has always been hard to come by. The main reason for gaining knowledge is experience. For example, many people gain experience of trying new physical activities with new pursuits. Knowledge does come at a price because nowadays everyone has to pay for an education, whether it is through tax or whether it is directed through a school. Without

  • By The Waters Of Babylon Character Analysis

    1159 Words  | 5 Pages

    In the story “By the Waters of Babylon” the author revolves around the destruction of human civilization caused by World War II. Stephen Benet shows you the possible threats and dangers of war destruction, which comes to the theme of the story: the outcome and dangers of war. The readers learn in the story that this is long after human inhabitation and humans could be considered as “Gods” during this point in time. Whilst John (the main character of the story) is going east, where he is forbidden

  • By The Waters Of Babylon By Kevin Beneet

    504 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the short story "By the Waters of Babylon," author Stephen Vincent Benét explores the relationship between knowledge and truth through the journey of the narrator, a young man from a tribe in a post-apocalyptic world. The narrator embarks on a journey to seek knowledge and understanding of the past, and his journey leads him to discover unexpected truths that challenge his beliefs and change his perception of the world. Through the story, Benét reveals that knowledge and truth are interconnected

  • 'Truth And Knowledge In By The Waters Of Babylon'

    370 Words  | 2 Pages

    Truth and knowledge are two of the most influential aspects in a human’s life. The knowledge of a person will always be changing over a lifetime, but the truth is a significant fact that will always be the same. In the story “By The Waters of Babylon”, the relationship between truth and knowledge is well shown and demonstrated by the protagonist John, who changes his beliefs and life forever. The truth is a real fact that never changes, building a base of knowledge, but knowledge is the truths that