“Ashing” is actually
a statue of George Washington
. “Ashing” is the name on the base of the statue of one of the “gods” in the Place of the Gods, the forbidden and mysterious goal of the main character in the post-apocalyptic short story written by Stephen Vincent Benet in 1937.
What is the great burning in By the Waters of Babylon?
In “By the Waters of Babylon,” the Great Burning refers to
an apparent nuclear holocaust
.
What is the symbolism in By the Waters of Babylon?
The east is
symbolic of the knowledge that can be gained about the gods before the Great Burning
. When John enters the Place of the Gods, he becomes enlightened. The east serves to represent the fear that knowledge from the past will lead humanity to make the same mistakes in the future.
Are Ubtreas and Ashing gods?
Once John gets to the Place of the Gods, he feels the energy and magic there. He sees a statue of a “god”—in point of fact, a human—that says “ASHING” on its base. He also
sees a building marked “UBTREAS”
. After being chased by dogs and climbing the stairs of a large building, John sees a dead god.
What is forbidden in By the Waters of Babylon?
By the Waters of Babylon — PART 1. The north and the west and the south are good hunting ground, but it is forbidden to go east. It is forbidden
to go to any of the Dead Places except to search for metal
and then he who touches the metal must be a priest or the son of a priest.
What does John realize about the gods near the end of the story?
Expert Answers
John realizes
that the gods are not gods at all
. The gods were regular men and women like himself. They lived a long time ago, and they were part of a great society that had lots of lights, cars, technology, and knowledge.
What does John see in his dream when he is sleeping?
When John goes to sleep that night, he dreams. He dreams of New York in its prime. He sees
the city at night with all of its lights, busy people, traffic, and noise
. … But they were men who built the city, not gods or demons.
What is the main message of By the Waters of Babylon?
The main theme of ”By the Waters of Babylon” is
that knowledge can be attained too fast
. The narrator and his father discuss this idea as the older man warns about revealing everything he has seen in the Place of the Gods.
What are the dead places in water by Babylon?
The Dead Places and Places of the Gods are
cities where humans lived before the apocalypse
. There was some kind of apocalyptic event, which is known as the Great Burning. It was probably some kind of nuclear bomb because “fire fell out of the sky.” It killed all of the people, but left the world inhabitable.
What did John see in his vision by the waters of Babylon?
John saw a vision of
the Dead Place where the gods walked that used to be New York
. John’s world is one that exists in a post-apocalyptic version of Earth, after the Great Burning.
What is the God ashing?
“Ashing” is the
name on the base of the statue of one of the “gods” in the Place of the Gods
, the forbidden and mysterious goal of the main character in the post-apocalyptic short story written by Stephen Vincent Benet in 1937.
Who did John decide the gods?
At the end of the short story “By the Waters of Babylon,” John, the protagonist, decides that the gods were not actually gods. Instead, he decides that they were
men
. For most of the story, John takes for granted that the beings who made the dead places were gods.
What destroyed the city in by the waters of Babylon?
John sees that the city was destroyed by
poisoned mist
and “fire falling out of the sky” in a terrible war between gods, and understands that this war created the other Dead Places.
What did John mean in the end when he said we must build again?
John
wants to build society again
, to make those same advances in technology and in wisdom. He wants to have all of the knowledge that the people in the city of the gods had. … He realizes that even though these people had all the knowledge and advancements that they could want, they did not use it wisely.
When the narrator sees a dead and naturally mummified god sitting in a chair What does he realize about the gods?
In By the Waters of Babylon, by Stephen Benet, When the narrator sees a dead and naturally mummified god sitting in a chair, what does he realize about the gods?
They had been men, neither gods nor demons.
Why does John want the dead place?
John
believes he is being told to go east
. John, the narrator, is the son of a priest of the Hill people. He has studied for the priesthood with his father and now has come of age. As part of his initiation rite into the priesthood, he has a dream about a gigantic Dead Place in the time of its glory.
