Optimism In Waters Of Babylon

Consequently, the civilization is not as ingenious and advanced as we were precedent. The title hints as to where the location of where the story is taking place, “By The Water Of Babylon”, Babylon is a city in New York. The story 's main character John, (son of a priest) was on an expedition to become a “man” (also a priest). The rules that were fundamental are simply as follows: never go east and cross the river. The reason being is that the gods, (as referred to in the story, they were just humans with knowledge) lived there. John was patiently lingering for a sign to unravel which direction he should go so he can commence his journey. All the signs directed him

“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 dangers in the east. He develops throughout the story because he’s gaining knowledge about the east and what people lived there and what happened in the east. John goes back home wise and aware of what happened in the east.

McCarthy, Cormac. The Road. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2006. Print. The Road is set in a grim atmosphere. It is after apocalypse world where all signs of life are extinct. People and animals are starving, and predatory groups of savages wander around with pieces of human bodies stuck in their teeth. It is both oppressive and disheartening. McCarthy sets an atmosphere like one mediately after the world wars. It is not far-fetched to imagine the possibility of such a sad environment today. The novel tells a story of an unnamed man and his son in who struggle to survive in this horrific environment. I feel that the language in the novel is verbose. McCarthy is blunt in his descriptions. He uses repeated struggles and similar scenes forcing the reader to share the tough experience of the characters. I agree with the author that The Road is the picture of a post-apocalyptic world. I also agree with the opinion that suffering might never end, like the novel indicates through imagery at the very end. The author manages to combine happy moments with sad ones even though the sad ones takes the larger share. In addition, he accomplished his aim of having an audience that is glued to the book all along sine it is both engaging and informative. The author has a perception that the world is composed of more bad things than the good ones. This novel will be important to me as I explore the themes of post-apocalyptic fears and human struggles. However, I do feel that he leans too heavily on sadness

In “Gilead” by Marilynne Robinson, John Ames III is the 3rd minister in a small town in Iowa. He is dying and he is aware that he is leaving his wife and children with nothing except books of his work. Ames sole purpose of the novel was to write to his son so that he would understand his family's history and along that get to know his father that most likely his son will have no recollection of his father.

Goodness and nobility is determined by an individual’s morality and their willingness to follow a virtuous path in their life. It is also determined by the ability of an individual to acknowledge their shortcomings and become more self-aware. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, John Proctor is a good man as he showcases righteous morals and principles. This is shown, as he ends his affair with Abigail, protects his wife and his friends’ wives, and dies to preserve his integrity and honour.

Ignorance is bliss. Often people hide behind what they wish to believe. The truth demands discomfort and people prefer comfort to truth.(Compound) In this world of conditioning, the Controllers keep any kind of truth from the people. Regardless, very few actually attempt to discover the truth. In the novel, Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley provides several examples of the truths individuals refuse in order to live in ignorance and bliss.

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, consequently, you die. Moreover, John doesn’t comprehend how self-explanatory utensils work. In the story, this occurs, “...In the washing-place, a thing said ‘Hot’ but it was not hot to the touch—another thing said ‘Cold’ but it was not cold. This must have been a strong magic, but the magic was gone, I do not understand—they had ways—I wish that I knew...”. This displays how John is oblivious to how a sink works, furthermore, it’s even frustrating for him being in the dark about how the gods function or live. In conclusion, knowledge comes at a price, but it could also lead to our demise.

John Smith and William Bradford journeyed to uncharted lands with different intentions. Both men shared similar occurrences, but handled each situation with a different mean. Whether the intent was guided by hope of riches or religious freedom, the authors faced many hardships. The speech, objective, and mood deviate from and correspond to William and John’s accounts.

Guilt is the fact or state of having committed an offense or wrong against your moral law. Have you ever felt guilty? John Proctor did. He thought there was no way for him to be content with himself again. In Arthur Miller’s, The Crucible, John Proctor struggles with the guilt he has for committing lechery and learns how to live with it throughout the play. This shows how the theme of guilt works through John Proctor.

“Babylon Revisited” is a very detailed and well written story that has many ups and downs bound to leave the reader on the edge of their seat.F. Scott Fitzgerald uses many different types of writing techniques in “Babylon Revisited” to make this story grab the reader’s attention even more so than some of his previous works.Fitzgerald’s style portrays one of the most important aspects of this book by far, setting the tone for this story giving you more details throughout. From attention to detail, to setting, to literary devices used throughout this story, Fitzgerald really hit home with this one.With the many different writing details used in this story,

In the short story “By the Waters of Babylon” the author Stephen Vincent Benét conveys the theme, “truth is a hard deer to hunt, if you eat too much of it at once, you may die of the truth” (Benét, 255). Which is a hyperbolic metaphor that means truth is like knowledge, hard to find. So, if too much of it is eaten at once, death is likely; as in truth is dangerous and hard to regulate among people if it is boundless. When the protagonist John was tired after travelling to the forbidden Place of Gods seeking knowledge, he fell asleep in one of the big dead-houses. He dreamed about the gods when they were alive long ago. He was terrified by the tools and knowledge the gods had and

Will the future of Earth be bright or could it turn dark? In “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut and “By The Waters of Babylon” by Stephen Vincent Benét, two ominous futures are portrayed along with their dangers. In “Harrison Bergeron” everyone is equal and has to wear handicaps to ensure equality. In “By The Waters of Babylon”, future New York is in ruins after a bombing based off man’s technology. The stories “Harrison Bergeron” and “By the Waters of Babylon” compare and contrast based on the future and the warnings of the future based off the technology used.

Rules of the laws should be followed at all times even if the law provides the north, west, and south as good hunting grounds and prohibits anyone from going to the east. The Dead Places are also off limits for everyone except a priest or the son of a priest. They are allowed to go there when they are in search for metal. After the metal has been discovered, both the man and the metal must be purified. Those are the laws and therefore they must be followed. The strictest law is the prohibition of anyone crossing the great river and looking at the Place of the Gods. It is forbidden because of the demons and spirits that are there. No one dared to go there. Breaking a law would lead to a cruel punishment of course. So they say. Will anyone know

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 was forbidden, he discovered the truth of what happened during the Great Burning. John’s journey shows that the people of the village and the priests have knowledge, but do not have the truth. Examples of this is that the people did not know the gods

Evaluate carefully all of the ten lessons that John Halamka learned from the experience. Are these the right 10 lessons?