Alas, Babylon
"We're all going to have to learn how to walk again." After a nuclear holocaust devastates the country of the United States, the people of the River Road Community have to work through adversity and strive for the survival of every family. Households have to do without the things they would usually have taken for granted. They have to bond together to fight the trials of "learning to walk." Frank's quote demonstrates his understanding of the task ahead of them as they start to learn to live again. They would have to begin by crawling before they can once more stand-up on both feet. Frank's quote is manifested throughout the story by the observed changes in the lifestyle of the community, the ways in which the diminishment of supplies are dealt with, and how the loss of community members forces others to take on new roles.After the nuclear holocaust, the lifestyle of the River Road community changed drastically. Before The Day, many residents of the community were wastrels. These rejects of society lived each day to eat, drink, and sleep. They lacked the drive to succeed in everyday life. After the bomb drop, everything changed. These blots on modern society crawled out of their shells in order to con
Another way in which the community had to "...learn how to walk again", arose from the lack of supplies. Before The Day, many residents live on a diet of beer and nuts. After the bomb incident, many of the foods found in the pre-bombed world were no longer available. During chapter 666, the food supply runs terribly low. Helen and Lib create a new salad using leaves and other greenery found around the house. This new salad would never have been attempted had it not been for the lack of food due to the holocaust. The nutritional value of this green salad, compared to the beer and nuts, shows a positive improvement in nutritional content of their diet. Another loss came as a result of the loss of running water after the nuclear holocaust. Not long after the water was cut off the tub supplies and other rations of water, which had been stored up, were running out. The community had to limit its use of water and cut back on things that on a pre-bomb day would have seemed natural (like flushing the toilet or taking a bath). The community adapted the Artesian water to use as their source for water. This water was not as nice as the purified water they had previously had, but it was water none-the-less. The harnessing of this water required the help of many. LALALAALA. Also, when medical supplies ran low, things had to be improvised. With just the aid of a billiard table, steak knives, darning needles, hair curlers, and nylon line, Dan operated on Ben Franklin, removing his appendix. This is just one example where things had to be "invented" due to a lack of supplies. They also decided to use hypnotism as a form of anesthesia. Dan could "...speak a few sentences, and they would fall into malleable t
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1159
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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