By the Waters of Babylon Prereading

In "By the Waters of Babylon," how is John's society different from the one that came before it?

• There is no warfare.

• People eat only plants.

• Technology is more advanced.

• People believe in magic, spirits, and demons.

In "By the Waters of Babylon," why does John go to the Place of the Gods?

• To find metal

• To anger his father

• to try to gain knowledge

• to become more powerful

What do John's references to gods and magic in "By the Waters of Babylon" most clearly suggest?

• John is young and lacks experience.

• The Great Burning was a recent event.

• The People of the Hills are social outcasts.

• John's people lack knowledge about technology.

In "By the Waters of Babylon," what does John finally realize about the gods?

• They used magic to cook and wash

• They did not know how to read.

• They were human beings.

• They still lived in the city.

What is one central idea of "By the Waters of Babylon"?

• Life is not always fair

• Love can change the world

• True wisdom may require knowledge of painful truths.

• If you do what is forbidden, you will always pay the price.

What is the most likely way in which water would be purified?

• By drinking it.

• by bathing in it

• by sealing it in a large container

• by removing impurities from it.

What does the following sentence from "By the Waters of Babylon" suggest about the culture of the story?

A priest must know many secretes-that was what my father said. If the hunters think we do all things by chants and spells, they may believe so-it does not hurt them.

• The priests are more educated and powerful than the hunters are.

• Only men can become priests and learn their secrets.

• The hunters know far more than the priests do.

• The hunters worship the priests as gods.

Part A: After which of these events does "By the Waters of Babylon" most likely take place?

• a violent bank robbery

• a deadly tornado

• a destructive war

• a great flood

Part B: Which of these passages from "By the Waters of Babylon" best supports the answer to Part A?

• After a time, I myself was allowed to go into the dead houses and search for metal. So I learned the ways of those houses-and if I saw bones, I was no longer afraid. The bones are light and old-sometimes they will fall into dust if you touch them.

• Yet, after a while, my eyes were opened and I saw both banks of the river-I saw that once there had been god-roads across it, through now they were broken and fallen like broken vines. Very great they were, and wonderful and broken-broken in the time of the Great Burning when the fire fell out of the sky.

• I do not know the customs of rivers-we are the People of the Hills. I tried to guide my raft with the pole but it spun around, I thought the river meant to take me past the Place of the Gods and out into the Bitter Water of the legends.

• I was in a long small chamber-on one side of it was a bronze door that could not be opened, for it had no handle. Perhaps there was a magic word to open it, but I did not have the word. I turned to the door in the opposite side of the wall. The lock of it was broken and I opened it and went in.

In "By the Waters of Babylon" John sees the city "as it had been when the gods were alive." What is he seeing?

• the city's future

• a terrifying nightmare

• a view of another planet

• New York City in the past.