“By the Waters of Babylon”
Stephen Vincent Benet
Characters
• John, narrator – dynamic character, son of a
priest, attempting to become a priest, desires
knowledge, he has limited education.
• John’s father – static character, he is a priest,
takes his son to collect metal because it is rare
and valuable.
• Forest people
• Gods
Beginning Conflict
• John desires knowledge
– What do we know about John and his people?
• They are primitive. (women spin wool on the wheel,
priests wear white robes, their dreams define them…)
• They collect metal from advanced civilizations ruins.
• The read the books and study the writings of this
advanced civilizations.
Before he leaves…
• His body receives
purification.
• His father gives him a bow
and arrow and warns him,
“It is forbidden to go east.
It is forbidden to cross the
river. It is forbidden to go to
the Place of the Gods.”
• He fasts before his journey.
Where to go?
• At dawn, he waited for a
sign. (Eagle flew east, deer
went east)
• Though it was forbidden, he
decided he must go east.
Eight suns’ journey to the east
• During these eight days, he
passed by many dead
places.
• He took a knife, though he
didn’t need it.
• He hunted for meat.
• He felt his magic was
strong, and journey clean
despite going east
The river
• He built a raft, ever fearful
of the forest people who
could kill him.
• He sung his song as he
sailed toward the Place of
the Gods.
The Place of the Gods
• John feels fear at first
– “I could feel evil spirits about me…”
• God-Roads
– Worn down and broken
• Walking, it felt like ground, not burning.
• It was a great dead place.
– He found marks of the great burning on the ruins.
The Place of the Gods
• It was silent and sunny where he landed.
• There were tall buildings still intact.
• Tall statue of “ASHING” with his hair pulled
back.
• Wild cats and dogs
– Pets of the former mortals
The Place of the Gods
• As he traveled north, John was no longer
afraid.
• He found enchanted boxes and jars of food.
– When he was younger, he tasted these, but his
father would not let John have them because
these could be deadly.
– This time he tasted them again, and he found the
fruits very sweet.
The Place of the Gods
• He travels through an apartment hallway and
finds an elevator door.
• He found the room of the powerful man.
– Pictures
– Washing places with hot and cold
– Cooking machines
– Books
– A dead man
Climax
• John realizes that the Gods were mortal. They
were men.
– He sees the man with the dry, leather skin
watching his city being destroyed.
Resolution
• “We must build again.”