Block Day, November 29 ~ Short Story #3: By the Waters of Babylon

Prefix

• pre - before
• pro - before, in favor of
• psyche - mind, soul
• publicus - people

Root

• endo - within
• plac - please

EQ: Who are you going to write your story for? 

Go over The Masque of the Red Death and Journal 30.

Journal 31

LIT NOTES: Use this website  to add the terms below to your Journal 31.

• First-person point of view (Why don't we talk about second person?)

• Third-person point of view: Limited
• Third-person Point of View: Objective (aka dramatic)
• Third-person Point of View: Omniscient

• Unreliable

EQ: What effect does POV have on the our stories so far? Why would an author use the unreliable pov?

SHORT STORY #31: "By The Waters of Babylon"
by Stephen Vincent Benét 

*This was published in 1937 in The Saturday Evening Post. 

1. To understand what is really happening in this story, you have to draw conclusions based on the writer’s clues and your own experience and knowledge. What do you think John is really seeing (and how are you able to tell) when he describes each of the items below? (You might want to work with a group to solve these puzzles.)

• the Great Burning
• Ou-dis-sun
• the statue of a man named ASHING
• the temple in mid-city with a roof painted like the sky at night
• the caves and tunnels where John thinks the gods kept their slaves

2. Find a place in the story where John achieves a breakthrough, and explain what he discovers.
    How does the first-person point of view help you appreciate his breakthrough?

3. Explain how the words of Psalm 137, verses 1-6, connect with Benét’s story.

• "Longing for Zion in a Foreign Land"
  1 By the rivers of Babylon,
  There we sat down, yea, we wept
  When we remembered Zion.
  ² We hung our harps
  Upon the willows in the midst of it.
  ³ For there those who carried us away captive asked of us a song,
  And those who plundered us requested mirth,
  Saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”
  ⁴ How shall we sing the Lord’s song
  In a foreign land?
  ⁵ If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
  Let my right hand forget its skill!
  ⁶ If I do not remember you,
  Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth—
  If I do not exalt Jerusalem
  Above my chief joy.

4. Near the end of the story, John says, “Perhaps in the old days, they ate knowledge too fast.” What do you think he means? Are we “eating knowledge too fast” today? Explain.

5. Benét wrote this story in 1937, before the first atom bomb was invented. World War II and the Cold War are over now. Do Benét’s warnings about the complete destruction of a civilization still have relevance today? Why?

6. Do you think Benét made the secret of the Place of the Gods too easy to guess, or too hard, or were the clues just difficult enough? Explain.

7. What is the narrative perspective of this story?  How does this perspective play a role in the reader's experience and theme of the work?

HW: Complete the reading and Journal 31 (Journal check next week)

*Get ahead by beginning your short story!