Dead Gods and John’s Father in Benet’s by The Waters of Babylon

Apocalyptic science fiction stories are dominated by the theme of the end of civilization with the influence of technology. For example, By the Waters of Babylon by Stephen V. Benet is a short story where John, the narrator, describes the taboos of his community and urges people to learn the truth. Despite being a son of a priest, John breaks all the rules by going east, going to the dead places, crossing the great river, and even going to the place of the gods. In this case, dead goods and John’s father are secondary characters within the story, and they play a huge role in assisting the main protagonist in finding the truth and communicating Benet’s message.

 Dead gods are used in explaining the life of men before their downfall due to the exploitation of their knowledge while John’s father guides him on taboos, the meaning behind these taboos, and finding the truth. The dead gods on the other side of the river were all men were viewed to live like supernatural begins due to their technological advancements. John explained that the gods “had been men, neither gods nor demons”. This characterization of the men as gods indicates their lives before the world is destroyed in the great fire. John described the gods as having “wisdom beyond wisdom and knowledge beyond knowledge” (Benet 7). The description of the knowledge of the people suggests that they are technologically-advanced in comparison with John’s people. Therefore, the gods are men who advance technology and sophisticated lifestyles. The complexity of the lifestyles of the dead gods suggests that they have advanced technological capacities. John describes a washing place with no water, cooking place with no firewood, and a cooking machine without a place to put fire (Benet 6). The tools used by the gods indicate that their technology is advanced beyond the understanding of an individual who’s comes from John’s people. Through technological advancements, the dead gods are capable of turning “night to day for their pleasure” (Benet 7). 

The lifestyles of the gods depicts the world today as this an example where electricity allows them to go on with their events after nightfall. Through the description of the lifestyles of the dead gods, the author explains the lifestyle of modern men. The “great burning” is viewed in the text as as attacks on the civilization due to weapons formed by men. John describes the war that led to the great burning and destruction of the dead gods as a war that used “sophisticated weapons that his people did not know” (Benet 7). The complexity of the war is depicted in the tactics and weapons used by the people. John described that there was “fire falling out of the sky and a mist that poisoned,” killing the gods as well (Benet 7). Fire, falling from skies, can be seen as the use of modern day weapons, such as bombs and missiles, while poisoned mist can describe biological weapons such as poison gas used in the war. The survival of a few of the gods indicates that John’s people may be the remnants of the past men and are essentially gods themselves. With that being said, the few gods who survived annihilation were most likely to be John’s people. John sees his people as privileged by claiming that they are not “ignorant like the forest people” (Benet 1). John claims superiority due to his idea of advanced civilization habits just like the gods appear superior by owning technology. John described the gods as “men who were here before us,” and he spoke of a legend that a few escaped the great burning (Benet 8). He ends the narration by saying that he and his people will rebuild the city. Thus, dead gods symbolize secondary characters, and their city and representation in the short story inspire John to rebuild the civilization after their annihilation by the great fire. 

Lastly, John’s father who is a priest who prepares John for the priesthood that one day he will succeed him and will become next in line. John distinguished himself from his brothers by waiting for his father when he went to fetch a metal from a “dead man’s house” (Benet 1). From that day forward, John was brought up to become a priest and inherit his father’s position as priest. In order to make this reality, John’s father punished him more strictly than his brothers for misbehaving in order to prepare him for the future duties of priesthood (Benet 1). John’s father taught him the secrets of the priesthood, which his brothers did not know and can be seen as apart of Johns future character development. Not only did prepare him for priesthood, he also prepared him for leadership by allowing him to go to dead houses which ultimately taught him the secrets of a priest. These secrets that included chants and spells such as how to stop bleeding from a wound. By doing so John’s father was determined to help his son to become a successful priest. The statement that “a priest must know many secrets” indicates that he was preparing John for the journey to the east (Benet 1). With John’s travels to the east along with that came breaking all the taboos of his people. The little questions and books offered to John by his father awakened his curiosity that led him to travel to the place of gods and investigate what happened to the dead gods. The father of John also guides his son as to where he should go during his journey indirectly. This is see evident when he reminds John of the three taboos,” such as not to travel east, not to cross the river, or not to go to the place of the gods” (Benet 2). However, the signs that John receives from his father all indicate to a path where he should travel east, cross the river, and go to the place of the gods. His father had prepared him to go against the taboos in search of knowledge, and this feature was necessary to make him a “great priest”. From John’s dream, his father knew where he was going for his journey and did not prevent him. 

Since a young age, John’s father was characterized as the supportive character that John required to discover the ruins of civilization. In the short story, John’s father is also depicted as a link between the past civilization and the new world about to rebuild god's place. He expressed his defiance to taboos by claiming that he “could not have done it in his time,” and suggests that he also wanted to explore the taboos himself when he was of the same age as John. His listening of the adventures of John suggested that he knew about what would happen on the other side of the river and understanding of the truth in history indicated that the author built the character to direct John through his journey of discovering the ruins of the past civilization. The wisdom of John’s father also directs him on how to handle and go about the truth that he finds about the taboos and the dead gods. He states that “truth is a hard deer to hunt,” in reference to the journey of John, breaking the taboos did not lead to death but lead to truth (Benet 8). John’s Father suggests of ways to handle the truth that John discovers instead of telling everyone. John acknowledged that he saw the wisdom of his father’s decision to expose the dead places from the general population (Benet 8). Keeping the truth to himself and releasing reality little by little allowed the people to digest and make good use of it. John’s remarks at the end of the scene that “we shall go to the place of gods…and find the god ASHING and others…”. This passage indicates that he plans to keep the truth away from the people. By ding so and keeping the people ignorant, he aims to prevent them from gaining knowledge they aren’t ready for too quickly. Keeping the people from knowing the truth made them controllable through taboos and gods that were men. 

In conclusion, the dead gods and John’s father are the main supporting characters that contribute to the narrative and message of Benet significantly. The dead gods represent men in the world before the big fire and destruction occurred. Through the analysis of their life, John narrated their lifestyle, inventions, and how their annihilation happened and depicted them as the ancestors of John’s people whom he describes as elites in comparison to his people. John’s father is also a smart man who forbids dead places from ordinary people to prevent them from learning the truth. He directed John on how to go about the journey to finding the truth about what happened and his wise advice on letting the truth out little by little is the reason why John in the future will plans to go to the place of gods with others once he is the chief priest.