By The Waters Of Babylon Character Analysis

The quest to find the truth, is not always what’s expected and can present itself with plenty of responsibility. The story “By the Waters of Babylon” tells a tale about a young man who is the son of the priest, that decides to go on a journey to the “Dead Places” in order to find the truth about the gods. When he arrives from his journey, he now has to decide what he will do with this new found truth and how he will maintain this new responsibility. His journey to the “Dead Places”, finding the truth, and gaining a new responsibility all show the meaning behind the truth. His dream is the very thing that will start his journey to the Dead Places. When looking in the smoke, his father warns him: This is a very strong dream, it may eat you up”(11). With this warning his journey begins. …show more content…
Finally, he spots three deers in the valley also heading East, “there was a white fawn with them-a very great sign”(19). Although, going East and visiting the Dead Places is forbidden he knows that East is where he is meant to go towards the Place of the Gods. The night when he sleeps in the house of gods, he stepped out of his body and he could see his body asleep in front of the cold fire, but it was not him. “I was drawn to look out upon the city of the gods”(56). The city of gods was illuminated by thousands of lights and the stars could barely be seen from the glow in the sky. They burrowed tunnels and even flew in the air. “Then I saw their fate come upon them and that was terrible past speech”(60). After this out of body experience, he decided to go through the house to look for answers. While in the house of gods, he saw a dead god. His face was filled with wisdom and his spirit was not yet