Alas, Babylon – Chapters 1-7 Overview
Background
 Written by Pat Frank (pseudonym)
 Real name was Harry Hart
 Post-apocalyptic novel = written after a major disaster
 Published in 1959
 Created paranoia and panic among readers because they believed it really could happen!
 Cold War – tension and hostility between the Soviet Union (Russia) and the U.S.
 “Cold” because there was no direct violence between Russia and the U.S., but the Cold War did get “hot” when
we took sides in the Vietnam War and the Korean War.
 Communism - classless society in which all property is owned by the community as a whole and where all
people enjoy equal social and economic status.
 Manhattan Project - the scientific project that led to the development of the atomic bomb.
 Fallout - consists of small dust particles that settle on the ground and contain radiation. (you can see the dust
particles of the fallout)
 Radiation - a type of highly concentrated atomic energy that can have devastating effects on anything it
touches. (you cannot see radiation)
 Sputnik – first artificial satellite launched by the Soviets in 1957.
 The Cold War officially ended in 1989 when the Berlin Wall, which was erected after WWII to separate Soviet
East Berlin and Allied West Berlin, was torn down.
Abbreviations
 TOT – Time on Target. Launching bombs at different times so they all hit at once.
 SAC – Strategic Air Command. Branch of the Air Force during the Cold War.
 Civil Defense – a non-military effort to prepare Americans for military attack. Many towns in the 1950s had Civil
Defense workers who would practice drills and have information for locals about what to do in a war situation.
 Western Union – A business that sends/receives telegrams
Chapter 1
 Introduction to Randy: bottom of page 6 to top of page 9
 Alas, Babylon meaning: middle of page 13 to middle of page 15
o “Alas, Babylon was a private, a family signal” – pg. 14
o Randy and Mark first overheard this phrase from Preacher Henry at the First Afro-Repose Baptist Church
o “…their private synonym for disaster, real or comic, past or future” – pg. 15
o “But in this telegram it had a very special and exact meaning.” – pg. 15
Chapter 2
 Randy arrives at McCoy Air Force Base. It’s almost totally deserted.
 “Some buggy you got here. Won’t be worth a ‘darn’ to you” – pg. 30
 Randy’s brother Mark says that there are 4 Soviet subs close to the United States coastline. That’s a lot when
there shouldn’t be any.
 Mark gives Randy a $5000 check. “Cash it, today if you can…”
 Brothers say goodbye and Randy is told to take care of Helen, Ben Franklin, and Peyton
 “She is my right arm” – Mark uses a metaphor to emphasize how much Helen means to him.
 “He knew he should not have spared time for tears and would not, ever again.” – pg. 37
 Already Randy’s character is changing.
Chapter 3
 Randy’s shopping trip – top of page 44 to “They would be certain he was mad.”
 Randy and Malachai’s conversation – bottom of page 48 to middle of page 50
o Artesian water well (sulphur water)
o Dug past many layers of rock and sandstone, so cannot be contaminated by radiation or fallout.
o “More important than anything he had listed was water, free of dangerous bacilli, unpolluted by poisons
human, chemical, or radioactive. Pure water was essential to his civilization.” – pg. 51
Chapter 4
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Helen and Mark’s goodbye – pg. 65
o “Your job is to survive. That is your job. There is no other. You understand that, Helen?” – pg. 66
Ben Franklin understands the reality of his father’s fate if he stays in Omaha
o “This is an evacuation, isn’t it, Dad?”
o “The boy’s eyes were filling. Ben Franklin was a child of the atomic age, and knowledgeable.” – pg. 67
o “Sounds like the kickoff. I guess Dad knew what he was doing.” – pg. 85
Growing shopping list: candles, kerosene lamps, batteries, gas
Ensign James Cobb, nicknamed Peewee – pg. 69
o “Peewee may be a mouse aboard ship but he’s a tiger in a Tiger. If I sent him up with orders to shoot
down the moon, he’d try.” – pg. 69
o Sidewinder: heat seeking, short range, air to air missiles
o Syrian train bombing (ACCIDENT!) – gives the Soviet Union an excuse to attack the U.S.
“Object, may be missile, fired from Soviet base…Sensitivity radar now has four objects on its screens. Speed and
trajectory indicates they are ballistic missiles”
Chapter 4 ends with four missiles heading toward the United States.
Chapter 5
 Randy and the others are awoken by the earth shaking due to nuclear bombs dropping.
o Randy figures out how close they are to the blasts by using the flash and sound system.
o See the blast flash and mark the time
o Hear the blast and mark the time
o Use arithmetic/math to figure out the distance of the blast
 Peyton is injured (temporary retinal burns)
 Ben Franklin – child of the atomic age
o “I’m going to fill up the sinks and pails and tubs with water.”
 Randy drives to town to get Dan Gunn
o Accident on the road / “And yet Randy stopped”
o Randy cannot abandon his humanity, so he stops to make sure there is something he can do to help the
woman – she is already dead though.
 Riverside Inn is in a state of chaos and medical emergency
o Theme: only the strong survive
o Allusion: “If the Riverside Inn sank, they must go down with the ship.”
 Bank chaos
 Edgar Quisenberry
o At first refuses to limit money withdrawals or to close the bank
o “This was Edgar’s first, and perhaps his vital error.”
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“By afternoon the law of scarcity had condemned the dollar to degradation and contempt. Within a few
more days the dollar would be banished entirely.” – pg. 119
“If the dollar was worthless, everything was worthless. The end of civilization as we know it. It meant
the end of money”
“He had been a banker all his life and that’s how he was going to die, a banker.”
Chapter 6
 “The Day” – pg. 123
 Radio dependence – waiting to hear from the outside world
 Mrs. Josephine Vanbruuker-Brown
o Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare
o PRESIDENT!
o “There have been grave dislocations of communications, of industrial, economic, and financial
functions.” – pg. 127
o Puts debts and loans on hold due to the banks crumbling
 Dan Gunn visits to check on Peyton and talks with Randy about the medical situation in town; learns the Edgar
killed himself
o “Aren’t you drinking, Randy?” - Dan
“No, I don’t feel like I want one.” - Randy
 Toynbee’s Theory: “Some nations and some people melt in the heat of crisis and come apart like fat in the pan.
Others meet the challenge and harden.” – pg. 133
 “‘You load up your gun, Ben,’ he said. ‘It’s yours now. Never point it at a man unless you intend to shoot him,
and never shoot unless you mean to kill.’” – pg. 137
o Ben’s loss of innocence/childhood
 Admiral Hazzard (retired) – has old ham radio he uses to listen to military communication
 Electricity goes out when Orlando is bombed
Chapter 7
 Loss of electricity
 Water shortage solution: connect all the houses on River Road using the artesian water well (Bragg’s house,
Henry’s house, Admiral Hazzard’s house, Florence’s house = rely upon each other to survive)
 Addicts attack Dan’s clinic looking for drug fix
 Dan moves in to Randy’s house on River Road (rely upon each other to survive)
 Radio announcement of contamination zones
 Lavinia McGovern dies - no refrigeration = no insulin
 Bill and Lib move in to Randy’s house (rely upon each other to survive)
 Commotion at Florence’s house
o Sir Percy (cat) ate Anthony (parrot)
o “The strong survive. The frail die.” – pg. 176
o “We’re going to have to be tough. We’re going to have to be catfish.” – Randy to Lib
Character List
Randy Bragg - The protagonist, and the descendant of an old Florida family. When the novel begins, he is a failed
candidate for political office, living off his family's land and the occasional work as a lawyer in the small Florida town of
Fort Repose. After the nuclear war, however, he becomes responsible for his brother Mark's family and the people who
live around him. He eventually emerges as the leader of the entire town.
Dan Gunn - Fort Repose's doctor, and Randy's best friend. A bitter divorce has left him disillusioned, but after the
nuclear war, he becomes a hero, throwing himself into the difficult work of serving as a doctor to a community in
turmoil.
Elizabeth McGovern - Randy's girlfriend. A smart, resourceful, attractive woman, her parents have moved to Fort
Repose from the North. After her mother dies of diabetes, she and her father, Bill McGovern, move in with Randy.
Helen Bragg - Mark's wife, and the mother of Peyton and Ben Franklin. Her husband, fearing imminent war, sends her
to Fort Repose from their home in Omaha, where she moves in with Randy on the day before war breaks out.
Mark Bragg - Randy's brother, and an officer with the Strategic Air Command in Omaha. He warns his brother that
nuclear war is imminent, and sends Helen and their children to live with Randy. He is assumed dead since Omaha was
hit with multiple nuclear bombs.
Malachai Henry - Randy's neighbor, who works a farm with his family.
Bill McGovern - Lib's father. After his wife's death, he and Lib move in with Randy.
Ben Franklin - Mark and Helen's son. He is thirteen when the war breaks out. He has a good understanding of the
nuclear attack and steps up to take a leadership role alongside his Uncle Randy.
Peyton - Mark and Helen's daughter. She is eleven when the war begins. She has temporary retinal burns for a few
weeks after she looks directly at the blast.
Florence Wechek - Randy's neighbor, a gossipy older woman who runs the Western Union telegraph office in Fort
Repose.
Admiral Hazzard - A retired military man, he lives near Randy on the River Road, and operates a ham radio as a hobby.
Rita Hernandez - A poor but beautiful woman who lives in the slum known as Pistolville. She is a former girlfriend of
Randy.
Alice Cooksey - The Fort Repose librarian, and Florence's best friend. She is quite intelligent.
Two-Tone Henry - Malachai's lazy brother, and Missouri's husband, called "Two-Tone" because his face has two shades
of color.
Missouri - Two-Tone's wife, she lives with him on the Henry farm, and cleans houses for a living.
Edgar Quisenberry - The President of the Fort Repose bank. He commits suicide after he realizes that the entire banking
system has failed and money is worth nothing.
Preacher Henry - Malachai and Two-Tone's father. He is the preacher who uses the phrase “Alas, Babylon.”
Paul Hart - An officer in the Air Force, stationed in Orlando, and a friend of Randy and Mark.
Pete Hernandez - Rita's brother
Porky Logan - The local representative to the state legislature, who defeated Randy for the office. He is a fat, greedy
man.
Lavinia McGovern - Lib's mother, who suffers from diabetes. She dies after the electricity goes out and she no longer
has access to insulin.
Bubba Offenhaus - The owner of the local funeral parlor.
Mrs. Josephine Vanbruuker-Brown - Formerly the Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, she becomes President
of the U.S.A. after nuclear weapons wipe out Washington.