"By the Waters of Babylon," Part 1: Analyzing Setting
Question 3 of 18 • HS BCS Literature and Composition II 25-26
Read the passage from "By the Waters of Babylon.”How shall I tell what I saw? There was no smell of man left, on stone or metal. Nor were there many trees in that wilderness of stone. There are many pigeons, nesting and dropping in the towers—the gods must have loved them, or, perhaps, they used them for sacrifices. There are wild cats that roam the god-roads, green-eyed, unafraid of man. At night they wail like demons but they are not demons. The wild dogs are more dangerous, for they hunt in a pack, but them I did not meet till later. Everywhere there are the carved stones, carved with magical numbers or words.
Answer
A
They create a feeling of a small mythical kingdom.
B
They build an atmosphere of a preindustrial society.
C
They give the sense that nature has taken over a once-urban area.
D
They develop the feeling of an ancient village of a polytheistic culture.