Forshawdowing In 'By The Waters Of Babyon'

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Foreshadowing in “By the Waters of Babylon”


Foreshadowing plays a big part in a lot of stories, especially in “By the Waters of Babylon” by Steven Vincent Benet . In this story foreshadowing helps the reader to fully understand the ending, which can be tricky at times. When first reading this story it seems to be some type of fairy tale, or an old medieval story, but it isn’t that’s what makes Benet so clever.

As one continues to read he/she will began to notice some examples of foreshadowing. Take for instance when the main character, John goes to cross the river which is named the Oudasun River, does that name ring a bell, if it doesn’t you’ll notice later on.

Then John arrives in the Place of the Gods. There John sees things like, skyscrapers some standing, others barely there. He also notices that there are pigeons nesting on the tops of these buildings. John also notices weird numbers and writing on the buildings, below these structures he notices an area with tracks and high beams. Then John sees a couple of wild cats and dogs roaming the street; this should sound familiar.

John manages to find an area to sleep and then he has a dream, even though this dream itself is not an example of foreshadowing it contains a lot of facts which are. In his dream he sees the city in all its entirety. There are bright lights, which work without wicks, or lighting fluid, there are washing rooms with no water, kitchens with no fire and all types of things. John also sees the Gods but he doesn’t understand why they fight so much, but the most important revelation is when he finds out that the so-called Gods are nothing but humans just like him. Now, the reader must have some type understanding. Remember the Oudasun River, well that’s the Hudson River. Remember the skyscrapers, pigeons, and the cat’s and dogs. Look around, if the reader lives in a city or remotely near one then he/she should kno...