“By the Waters of Babylon”

Stephen Vincent Benet

• 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

Characters

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.”