Comparing and contrasting “By the Waters of Babylon” and “Coyote Kills the Giant”
The tail of two journeys may seem very similar because they are journeys. However, “By the Waters of Babylon” and “Coyote Kills the Giant” share some similarities but they are very different. In these two stories both the main characters go on dangerous journeys that test skill and wit. Also, the main characters are very different but face some of the same trials. Their obstacles may slow them down but they overcome them and they are able to achieve their goals.
John is the main character of “By the Waters of Babylon”. He is a priest in training and also the son of a priest. For the greatest part of his life john has been spoon feed what to believe about life outside of his rural forest home. The main goal of John quest is to achieve a high intelligence about the place his family calls the land of the gods. Even though john has heard horrible things about this land of the gods such as, if he was to walk on the land of the gods he would burn where he stood, he continued to pursue this journey. Before John set out for a long journey his father warned him of great danger this trip may bring, Johns father said”this is a very strong dream it may eat you up” without the slight stir of fear john continued on his journey.
In “Coyote Kills the Giant” coyote unlike john, is an arrogant young coyote that has great confidence. He can take anyone or anything down. While walking along he is stopped by and old woman who warns him of what danger that maybe a head like in “By the Waters of Babylon”. The old woman says to coyote “you betters stop going that way, or you’ll meet a giant who kills everybody”. Coyote being the headstrong coyote he is, like john he continued on his journey. Coyote sets out to find the giant and defeat him. Coyote later walks in to what he think is a cave and come in counter with a woman crawling on all fours. He stops to ask her what’s wrong and she replies that she is starving, then she asks him why he had a sick in his hand. Proud coyote tell her he is going to kill the giant. To his disbelief, the woman tells him that he is already in the belly of the giant. Like john did in” “By the Waters of Babylon when he almost got killed by a panther, coyote use his wit to find a way out of the giant’s belly. In the end coyote came out victorious and killed the giant.
John’s reason for his journey differs greatly from coyotes. John wants to seek knowledge about the unknown where as coyote want to try his luck at defeating a giant. Also “By the Waters of Babylon” is a fictional story of a human society. “Coyote Kills the Giant” is a folk tale of an animal that defeats an evil giant. Even though both characters came out victorious in the end they won two totally different battles. John over came ignorance of the land of the gods and coyote reign supreme over an opponent.
In “By the Waters of Babylon” and “Coyote Kills the Giant” both characters face totally different obstacles but in the end both overcome them. John and coyote both risk their lives for something they wanted to do. Both stories share some major similarities such as the both go on journey. Also they are very different for example john is human and coyote is an animal. The two stories connect with each other in an unexpected way without being the same at all.
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