The story of “By the Waters of Babylon” is a post-apocalyptic short story by American writer Stephen Vincent Benet. First published July 30, 1937, Benet has included historical context in this tale related to the Americans as the second world war was approaching during the time of creating this story. This story is told in the point of view of John, the protagonist in the story and his mission is to get to the place of the gods and to seek wisdom on how these gods lived. In this amazing literature, it has told the depthness of the story through the eyes of John who turned from a boy into a man during his 8 day journey after knowing the secrets of the gods. While it has the aspects of an imaginary world, the fact that Benet created this story with the relation of the real world makes it an amazing feat. The way that Benet wrote this tale can give readers a connection on the tragedies of the Great Burning. This spectacular story can be broken down into the 7 elements and see how Benet wrote this story the way he did.
As the protagonist in this story, John is a defiant and ignorant boy that came from a society called the Hill people. He is a priest and …show more content…
As said before this story was told in a mature manner and it shows the depthness of it. The title of the story “By the waters of Babylon" explains the plot itself. This title relates to the time of the Israelites and Jerusalem when they were the center of knowledge and one of the leading civilizations but Babylonians came and conquered it all which lead Israel and Jerusalem fall from power. This is the same exact case for Benet’s story but he modernized the setting into New York. John who saw what happened during the Great Burning relates to this ancient story. New York city that was once a great city with all the evolving technology at their arsenal fell from power as portrayed in the story. Therefore, Benet took the idea of the ancient story and modernized
As the protagonist in this story, John is a defiant and ignorant boy that came from a society called the Hill people. He is a priest and …show more content…
As said before this story was told in a mature manner and it shows the depthness of it. The title of the story “By the waters of Babylon" explains the plot itself. This title relates to the time of the Israelites and Jerusalem when they were the center of knowledge and one of the leading civilizations but Babylonians came and conquered it all which lead Israel and Jerusalem fall from power. This is the same exact case for Benet’s story but he modernized the setting into New York. John who saw what happened during the Great Burning relates to this ancient story. New York city that was once a great city with all the evolving technology at their arsenal fell from power as portrayed in the story. Therefore, Benet took the idea of the ancient story and modernized