"By the Waters of Babylon," Part 1: Analyzing Setting
Question 7 • ELA 10B - 2023
Read the passage from "By the Waters of Babylon.”It is not true what some of the tales say, that the ground there burns forever, for I have been there. Here and there were the marks and stains of the Great Burning, on the ruins, that is true. But they were old marks and old stains. It is not true either, what some of our priests say, that it is an island covered with fogs and enchantments. It is not. It is a great Dead Place—greater than any Dead Place we know. Everywhere in it there are god-roads, though most are cracked and broken. Everywhere there are the ruins of the high towers of the gods.
Answer
A
He discovers that it is unwise to have an inquiring mind.
B
He learns that there is nothing supernatural to fear in the destroyed city.
C
He renounces everything he learned from the priests and his father.
D
He understands that the past has nothing of interest for people of the present.
Explanation
The narrator corrects the stories he has heard: the ground does not burn forever, and the city is not an island of fogs and enchantments. He has visited it and describes physical evidence—old marks from the Great Burning, broken roads, and ruined towers. This shows that he learns there is nothing supernatural to fear in the destroyed city.
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