By The Waters Of Babylon Literary Analysis

In Greek mythology, Prometheus gives fire to ignorant humanity and by doing so he only dooms himself. Even though Zeus tells Prometheus that giving fire to the peasants will make the peasants wiser than themselves, Prometheus does so anyways. This same theme appears in “By the Waters of Babylon” by Stephen Vincent Benèt. In that story, John, the descendent of a long line of priests, sets out on a quest to become a priest himself. While travelling across the land, he gains new knowledge that doesn’t agree with his society’s past beliefs. At each stage of his new learning, John encounters fire. This fire is knowledge. The knowledge he gains has been hidden by the priests and no one else thinks about their beliefs like John will. Fire in

The Great Burning contributes this post-apocalyptic essence throughout the duration of this story. The Great Burning was the destruction of society. The world overflowed with knowledge but did not have an adequate amount of wisdom to balance it out. When at the Place of the Gods, John discovers a statue of the god Ashing. The story leads the reader to believe that Ashing represents George Washington. The statue of Ashing had white hair tied back like a girl. The Great Burning had reached this statue far before John does. The fire burned part of the statue and left the word Ashing. The word Ashing is derived from Washington but also sounds like ash which is what results from a fire. George Washington represented our world’s pride in knowledge and how it ended up destroying us. Lastly, the instance where John prays to the god ashing. He does not know who the god Ashing is, but he still prays to him. John does not realize that he is praying to the destruction and not achievement. He is praying to the statue that was once George Washington but was burned up by The Great Burning. The Great Burning was the result when humans gain too much knowledge, too

Both keep us warm and shield us from the cold world around us. We think of each as protection, although too much of either and we can easily burn ourselves. The story “By the Waters of Babylon” demonstrates that like fire, we have to be careful with our knowledge. The Great Burning was caused by the lack of wisdom that accompanied extreme increases of knowledge. John’s fire that he keeps inside of him helps him pursue his journey but, also leads to the destruction of everything he believes in. The fire that surrounds John points him the way of his journey. Our knowledge can damage our society and beliefs when not paired with an appropriate amount of wisdom.In oreder to have a balanced society a person has a specific role to play; obtain the amount and kind of knowledge that will be helpful, not hurtful, to themselves and to their