Summary Of By The Waters Of Babylon

By the Waters of Babylon

In the "By the Waters of Babylon" the plot is John, a young man destined to be a priest in his village, goes on a quest to the Place of the Gods to gain knowledge. Even though it is forbidden by the priests of his village to go there, his dreams have told him that he must. After traveling through the woods and avoiding the enemy Forest People, he comes to the Hudson River and struggles to cross it. Once he reaches the Place of the Gods, he finds that it is in ruins. After exploring the god roads and going into one of the buildings, John has a vision in which he sees that those who once lived in this place were men, not gods, and that they were destroyed by fire that fell from the sky. In actuality, this is New York City in the far distant future, and it has been destroyed by bombs. Once John learns that the gods were men, he returns home where his father warns him not to tell his people the truth. Too much truth all at once could destroy their society.

The priest is the main character of the short story “By the Waters of Babylon”. He is a priest who went east even though it is forbidden. He traveled east for eight days, following the “gods-road”. He is driven by his thirst for knowledge and his desire to regain the secrets of a lost civilization whose forest-encroached ruins hold clues to the past and signs for the future. As he travels he observes that the causes of the burning ground and strange dogs have disappeared, so he bravely crosses