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The story of By the Waters of Babylon written by Stephen Vincent Benet is about a son of a priest who goes out on a journey. The story, told in 1 st person point of view, takes place in a community of people called the people of the hills. The son of a priest has a constant desire to gain more knowledge about the place of the gods (an area east of the river where supposedly the gods live. ) His main problem is that during his journey to the place of the gods he doesnt understand why or how the great burning occurred (an event where fire fell from the sky and resulted in destruction of civilization) and he strives for the truth about what really happened to the place of the gods. The people of hills were told that traveling east to the place of the gods was forbidden. The son of a priest began his journey by fasting and waiting for a sigh of where he should go. After several signs, they all pointed to the east.
He knew it was forbidden to go there but he took his journey out east anyways because he believed that he was meant to go there. He crosses the river known as ou-dis-sun on a raft and heads toward the place of the gods. The place of the gods has many towers, buildings and streets called god-roads. He then heads north on a god-road towards a building called a dead house. In the house he notices that in the home there are places to cook, but nowhere to put fire. He also notices that there is a bathing place, but no water.
He then believes that maybe the gods bathed in air. As night falls he goes and falls asleep. He dreams he sees the gods, and how the Place of the gods used to be. He then sees in his dream how the great burning had destroyed the world. He then finally realizes that the gods that he and his people had been devoted to were not gods, but men.
He returns to his father and tells him what he saw. His father reassures him and tells him that he had to find out the truth little by little so that they dont again destroy themselves. When he becomes chief priest, the son of the priest plans to take his people back to the place of the gods and build again. The climax of the story is established when the son of the priest finally finds out the truth about what happened the day of the Great Burning and how the gods were in fact, civilization before their time.
The Turning point is when he returns to his community in the hill and tells his father what he has learned.
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Research essay sample on Place Of The Gods Son Of A Priest People
