Tuesday, December 3

Wednesday, Dec.4 ~ "By the Waters of Babylon"

GRAMMAR 
Practice rewriting the sentences below in Active Voice.
  1. Teachers can be assisted by TAs for only one period a day. 
  2. We were bitten by mosquitoes at the lake.
  3. My wallet was found on the street.


SHORT STORIES
Story #7:  "By The Waters of Babylon" by Stephen Vincent Benét

Journal 40

 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. 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?
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. 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? 


HW: Complete J40
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