By the Waters of Babylon Study Guide

1. Describe the setting (and its time period): 2. Describe Johns character (describe in great detail):
3. 4. What is the position that the speaker John's father holds in their society? As John begins his journey, what physical thing does he forego? What animals is John escaping when he runs into the tower/building? What does John believe has "gone out of" the cooking place, lamps, and washing place in the living of the gods where he sleeps? Describe the Forest people (in detail). What is the Great Burning? What is the theme? In his dream, what does John see happen to the gods at the time of the Great Burning (list two things)? In the last line, after all he has seen and learned, what does John declare his people must do? How does the Place of the Gods become a dead place? The food in the Dead Places that brings death is probably dangerous to eat because it is what? Why does John believe that the dead god was, in some sense, unconquered? The story suggests that Johns attitude toward the Forest People is one of what? Which of the following best describes Johns attitude toward his peoples religion? The most likely explanation for the Great Burning is that it resulted from? At the end of the story, Johns attitude toward his peoples future is? What is Johns main goal in this story? What consequences does Johns achievement of his main goal have for him and his people? Why does John set out on his journey? Why is Johns journey unusual? Describe three things John sees in the Place of the Gods. What significance does the journey have for John and his people? Explain why Johns father wants to keep secret what John has learned about the Place of the Gods? What does the narrator reveal about his feelings toward the past? What profession does John plan to have? What does John discover to be untrue about the Place of the Gods? When and where does this story take place? Who does John decide the gods were? At the end of the story, what has changed about John?

5. 6. 7.
8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29.

Background: This title refers to the Christian Bible and the Hebrew captivity by the Babylonians, a story rich in levels of meaning. Bent is saying that the people in the story are captives. The question then becomes Captives of whom or what? In addition, you have to understand that the story takes place after a great, cataclysmic war. 1. The narrator says that it is forbidden to go _______ or into Dead Places except to search for metal and then you must be a ____________ or the son of a __________. It is forbidden to cross the _______________ or to look upon the ____________________ because there are demons there and the ashes of the Great Burning. 2. The narrator reveals that when he first went into the Dead Places, that he was _________. His father, though, handed him a piece of metal and the boy did not __________. The narrator says that his brothers are good __________ but that they would not have ___________________________________. 3. He says that it is a sin to _____________________________. He was also taught many chants and spells, how to stop ____________________, and many secrets. He says that My knowledge made me happy it was like a _______ in my heart. Most of all, he liked __________________________. 4. T/F He finds the answers to the questions that he asks himself. He calls the wind the voice of the gods as they flew through the air (115). 5. There is another group of people he calls the ____________________ but he says that in his culture, women

____________________ and priests wear ______________. 6. What does this young man want most? ___________________________ 7. When time for him to go on his manhood journey, he must tell the priest about his dreams. What has the narrator always seen in his dreams? _____________________________________________________ 8. His father tells him the three forbidden things and adds, If your dreams do not eat you up, you may be a great priest. If they eat you up, you are still my son (116). What did he mean? ____________________________________ 9. Outside the village, the narrator waits for a sign that he is correct in disobeying the law not to go _____. The first sign is an ________ that flies _____. The second sign is ______________________________; and the third sign is when he __________________________________ with a single arrow. He travels for ____ days, and in one of the Dead Places, he finds his own talisman, a __________________________. 10. He has lucky days how? _____________________________________________ 11. He comes to the Great River that he says none of his tribe has seen, named the _________________, and from the cliff can see _________________________. 12. He thinks that just seeing the Place was enough, but in the morning, he decides _______________________________________. Why? 13. When the raft was made, I said ____________________________ and painted myself for ________ . When he sings his song, we find his name is _______. He sees the broken god-roads that had been wrecked in the time of the Great Burning when the fire fell out of the sky (118). When his raft capsizes, he swims ashore and finds that the place is not a Place of Enchantment, but simply a great ______________. The old stories say that the ground there _______________, but he says that nature had _______________. 14. Because of the dogs, he goes into a dead-house, climbing the stairs to a place of marvels. Of all that he sees, the most important to him are probably the _____. He sleeps in the dead place and believes that he stepped out __________ to see the place as it was when? ____________________________ 15. He says that the gods were __________, always in motion, and that no part of the earth _________________________ (123). He asks if the gods were happy but is really too much in awe of their works to answer; however, he recognizes that not all they did _________________ (124). 16. He looks for an answer to why, with all of their knowledge and wisdom, they should have died. The next morning, he finds a god sitting in a chair and realizes _________________. He returns to his village, is purified (return threshold), and tells his father that he has broken the law and knows the truth, accepting death, but his father tells him: _____________________________________ 17/18: discussion/small group presentation 19. Why does the narrator & priests go to the Dead Places now? __________ 20. When he is chief priest, he will lead the priests ______________________ 21. What is his vow now? __________________________________________