Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank
Study Guide
Background Material on the Author:
Not much background information is available for Pat Frank, the author of Alas, Babylon. Pat Frank is the
pen name of the American novelist, Harry Hart Frank (born 1909, died 1964). Alas, Babylon was Frank's
most well-known work.
Frank was well-known for his “plain style” of writing. He is wonderful at creating very visual images
through his use of vocabulary that far-reaching. The message he sends through his novel is chilling.
What would we do if a similar event happened? During the time period that he wrote this novel, that was
one of the greatest fears in the minds of most Americans. Frank’s work seems to warn the super-powers,
Russia and the United States, that the stock-piling of arms could lead to a holocaust. This holocaust
would destroy both nations and revert our society to a lifestyle from a thousand years ago.
Be prepared to discuss each of the following on the test:
1. Explain the stages of the plot development of the short stories: exposition, rising action, climax, and
falling action. Be able to discuss details of each story important to the plot.
2. Discuss the conflict in the story—whether external or internal—and provide details.
3. Discuss the themes (main ideas or messages) of the story: survival, family, love, greed
4. Be able to discuss the following characters:
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, and later his wife. 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 dies in Omaha during the first nuclear exchange—although Helen does not learn of his
death for months.
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.
Peyton - Mark and Helen's daughter. She is eleven when the war begins.
Florence Wechek - Randy's neighbor, a gossipy older woman who runs the 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.
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.
Preacher Henry - Malachai and Two-Tone's father.
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. A fat, greedy man, he dies of radiation poisoning from contaminated jewelry that he is
hoarding.
Lavinia McGovern - Lib's mother, who suffers from diabetes.
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.
5. Be able to discuss which characters are static and dynamic—dynamic characters change
because of the conflict they face; static characters do not change.
6. Discuss point of view and its’ importance in the story.
7. Be able to explain examples of figurative language (simile, metaphor, hyperbole, etc.).
Metaphors:
"She noted that the two miniature catfish, useful scavengers,....”
"Randolph Bragg a Peeping Tom "
"The man, an imaginative idealist, had gone to England in 1940..."
"He was a hermit, and a snob, and a nigger-lover, and no better than a pervert." (Florence thinking
about Randy)
"Alice, tiny, drab in black and gray, an active, angry sparrow of a woman, arrived late."
"The Russians are great chess players." "...because people, per se, are only pawns,..."
"Two reasons. First, when I left Puerto Rico this morning Navy was trying to track three skunks —
unidentified submarines — ..."
"Dan was a souring idealist."
"Florence had been observing him from behind the bedroom blinds while he talked with the
McGovern girl, and kissed her goodbye, a disgusting exhibition."
"Florence is a guppy, a nice drab little guppy. That's why she'll survive."
"The dachshund made a most satisfactory foot warmer ,...?! "Whiskey was Dan Gunn's emergency
anesthetic." "Sickness and injury were emergencies..."
"Fishing was not only recreation but the necessary daily harvest of a crop providentially swimming at
their feet."
"Peyton danced in indignation, a slim shrill-voiced sprite."
"Five bells was the panic button."
"His rage was a hard cold ball in his stomach now."
Similes
"Her eyes, which reflected her moods as the river reflected the sky, were gray and opaque."
"The air is like soup and the people are like noodles."
"Now at this hour, when the cirrus clouds stretched like crimson ribbons high across the southwest
sky,..."
"He always thought of the Mediterranean as a sack,..."
"In Saratoga's Combat Information Center two officers watched a bright blip on the big radar
repeater. It winked on and off, like a tiny green eye opening and closing."
"Bill was bald, square shouldered and rather tall. His nose was beaked and his chin prominent and
strong. In his toga of toweling, and with feet encased in leather sandals, he looked like an
angry Caesar."
"The house was still as northern woods in winter, when all creatures are gone."
"Her desk was neat, pencils aligned as if at squads right,..."
"The gaudy mushroom enlarged with incredible speed, angry, poisonous, malignant. It grew until the
mushroom's rim looked like the leading edge of an approaching weather front, black, purple,
orange, green, a cancerous man-created line squall."
"Your face looks like a balloon but I could tell it was you."
"Radiation...It was now a sinister word of lingering death, like cancer."
"For the Russkies, it must have been like shooting frogs in a puddle." (Shooting up the fleet in the
Mediterranean)
"Dan Gunn shivered....He shook his head and slowly straightened, like a great storm-beset ship that
has been wallowing in the trough of the sea but will not founder."
"Lib watched...She stepped into the hole and relieved him of the shovel...As she dug, her stature
increased in Randy's eyes. She was like a fine sword, slender and flexible, but steel; a woman
of courage."
"He (Dan Gunn) looked like a Klondike sourdough or Paul Bunyan transplanted to the semi-tropics."
"Abandoned cars, stripped of wheels, batteries, radios, and spark plugs, rusted in gutters like the
unburied carcasses of giant beetles."
"He said stuff was lying all over, rings and pins and watches and bracelets, like popcorn out of a
busted bag."
"When Randy found Bubba sitting on his terrace he looked like a balloon out of which air had been
let."
"He (Sam Hazzard) was tough as an antique ivory figurine which has withstood the vicissitudes of
centuries, and can accept more."
"The best man was Doctor Daniel Gunn....he looked like a turbaned Mediterranean pirate."
"These people (highwaymen) operate like beasts."
"He carried a holstered pistol too, but from the way he hefted the bat, like a hitter eager to step to
the plate, the bat was his weapon."
"In December the helicopter came....it hovered low and dropped a long wire from its belly,...it was
like a gigantic bug dipping for honey."
Personification:
"...when the percolator chuckled its call to breakfast."
"...the six' goldfish dancing a dreamy oriental ballet on diaphanous fins."
"He heard wind rustle the palms,..."
"Under the soft tan painted by winter's sun..."
"The drinking fountains made his mind itch."
"In Pistolville each hut or house squatted in a mound of its own excretion—..."
"He walked on alone under the oak arch excluding starlight, secure in night's black velvet cloak,..."
"The engine turned over, protesting.”
Onomatopoeia;
"...ticking of clocks."
"...the chirp of Cardinals..."
"...with Anthony ogling and gabbling,..."
8. Be able to discuss the importance of the setting (time and place), especially the following places:
River Road, Latakia, McCoy Field, Marines Park, Timucuan, Blue Crab Pool, Offutt Field, Denver, San
Marco, Fort Repose, Orlando, and Jacksonville.
9. Be able to discuss any symbolism found in the novel.
10. Be able to discuss the following vocabulary words as they are used in the novel:
scandalous
raucous
irascible
epidemiology
scavengers
suture
semantic
hemorrhage
zippo
louvers
dinges
skunk
voyeur
tart
pervert
miasma
deterrent
cataclysm
priority
placebo
geriatrics
plague
periphery
catalyst
nuclear
bedlam
echelon
apprehension
illogical
posterity
atavistic
barbarism
incongruous
connotation
premonitions
inured
holocaust
nostalgia
meager
immutable
reluctant
11. Be able to answer the following questions: (The questions are not necessarily in the order that
the answers may appear in the book; also, many of these questions will not be answer in the book,
but will require thinking to piece everything together.)
Chapter 1
1. What is Florence Wechek's impression of Randy at the beginning of Alas, Babylon? 2. How does the
description of the election show a new side of Randy's character? 3. If the description of the Bragg house is
symbolic of the Bragg character, what might it show? 4. Explain the meaning of the phrase "Alas, Babylon." 5.
What relevance does the phrase "Alas, Babylon" have to the rest of the novel? 6. Summarize Mark's views on
the U.S.'s state of Civil Defense preparedness. Chapter 2 1. What examples of foreshadowing are there in this
chapter involving cars? 2. Describe the Offenhauses and Alice Coksey - referring specifically to events which
illustrate their characters? 3. How is Mark's authority established in this section? 4. What warning does Mark
give about Civil Defense and how is it related to the theme of the novel? 5. What is there about Mark's
warnings that might be considered dated (out-of-date) since the novel was written? 6. How does Mark
describe Helen? How does her character compare to the characters of other women who join Randy's
community after The Day? 7. Why does Randy vow never to cry again?
Chapter 3 1. How does Edgar judge people? How does this relate to Edgar's reaction to the disaster? 2. What
does the poker story reveal about Edgar's and the Judge's personalities? 3. How does Randy get Edgar to
cash Mark's check? What does this show? 4. Randy's discussion with Malachai reveals Randy's attitudes
towards black people. What are they? 5. What vital necessity does Malachai bring up before Randy does? 6.
Why does Lib McGovern say Randy should leave Fort Repose? 7. Why is Dan a bitter man?
Chapter 4 1. What does Helen's leaving Omaha show about her character? 2. How is Ben Franklin shown to
be a child of the atomic age? 3. What is symbolic about the landscape that Peewee Cobb flies over? 4.
Describe the McGovern home. What is ironic about its functional design? 5. How is the inadequacy of Bubba
Offenhaus as Civil Defense chief shown? 6. Describe Randy's attitudes toward the way as they are revealed in
his conversation with Helen. 7. How does the description of SAC headquarters emphasize the impersonality of
modern war? Chapter 5 1. Discuss some ways in which Randy's competence and authority begin to assert
themselves after the attack. 2. How does Ben show his understanding of the difficulties his family faces? 3.
What does Randy's stopping the car by the wreck show? 4. Contrast some of the reactions people in Fort
Repose have to the attack. 5. How is the behavior of Edgar and his wife particularly absurd? 6. How does the
town's business and economy change? 7. Compare the reactions of Florence and Alice. Chapter 6 1. Who is
the new President of the United States? What does this change suggest about the condition of the United
States? 2. What new danger is mentioned in this chapter? 3. Why is it so important that Ben was his hands?
Chapter 7 1. How does the loss of electricity affect the lives of the survivors? 2. What does Randy realize in
his conversation with Ben? 3. How does Fort Repose change? 4. What is the relationship between Lib and
Helen? 5. Contrast Bubba Offenhaus and Randy as leaders. 6. Relate the death of Florence's birds and fish to
the theme of survival. Chapter 8 1. The lives of several people in the community, while more uncomfortable in
some ways, are actually improved in others. Explain this. 2. Describe the system of commerce that develops
after The Day. 3. What change in black and white relationships has evolved? 4. Why is the beekeeper
suddenly so important? 5. What effect does Jim's generosity have on Randy? 6. What is ironic about Porky
Logan's death? 7. What new human danger threatens unprotected travelers? Chapter 9 1. The burial of Porky
Logan might be considered the turning point of the novel. Why? 2. What is Lib's analysis of the problem with
Helen, and what is her solution? 3. How do the Admiral's words reinforce the theme(s) of the novel? 4. In
what way do Ben and Randy face the same decision as part of protecting their family? Chapter 10 1. Why
does Dan stop for the ambush? 2. Why do Randy and the Admiral exclude Lib from their strategy session?
How does she establish her right to be included? 3. How do Randy and Dan differ in what they see as the
greatest threat to their survival? 4. How does Randy's attitude towards children change during the months
following The Day? Chapter 11 1. How does the description of Randy and Lib's wedding suggest both
continuity and change? 2. What does the decision to have Malachai drive the decoy truck show about Randy's
leadership? 3. Why does Randy want to hang, not shoot, the remaining highwaymen? 4. What kind of
community support does Randy get after the hanging? 5. What good comes out of the struggle to save
Malachai? Chapter 12 1. Describe Peyton's attempts to be useful. 2. What substitute for anesthesia does Dan
use? 3. Why is salt so important? 4. What is ironic about the new system of education? 5. Which of Dan's
patients gives him new hope for the future? Chapter 13 1. How do the leaflets dropped by the helicopter
become useful? 2. In what ways were Randy and his group lucky? 3. On the other hand, in what ways is their
success due to their own initiative? 4. What is optimistic about the ending? 5. What is pessimistic about the
ending? 6. What is ironic about the final question and answer?
Discussion Questions:
1. Why do you think Frank selected a phrase from The Revelation of John as the title of his book?
2. To what extent do you think he intended the references to Babylon in Chapters 17 and 18 of The
Revelation to apply to the United States of the 1950s? To what extent might they apply to the United
States today?
3. What instances are there of people being in positions of power or public authority who should not be,
before and after The Day?
4. How does Randy's exercise of authority contrast with that of others, from the pilot Peewee to Bubba
Offenhaus, Edgar Quisenberry, and Porky Logan?
5. What details reveal the specifics--and the inanity--of race relations in the American South during the
late 1950s? Does the novel suggest any way of resolving the race issue?
6. How does Randy's relationship with the Henrys go against his community?
7. In Chapter 4, Helen points out that her children, and all children in the late 1950s, "have lived under
the shadow of war--atomic war. For them the abnormal has become normal." Do children today live
under a comparable shadow or shadows? If so, what are the possible consequences for them?
8. What are the consequences--for Randy himself, for his family and friends, and for all of Fort Repose--of
Randy's decision, in Chapter 5, that "he would have to play by the old rules"? In what ways do Randy
and others subsequently act in accordance with or in opposition to "the old rules"?
9. What is the sequence of the escalating breakdown of "normal" order, institutions, and public services?
10. How do people react to the sudden absence of services and procedures that they--we--take for
granted? Would reactions today be different or similar? What do you think is the most serious loss?
11. In Chapter 5, Frank writes of bank president Edgar Quisenberry that "He had forgotten the
implacable law of scarcity." How would you define/describe that law? How does it come into play for
the people of Fort Repose, and what effects does it have?
12. Is Helen's "inventory of necessities," in Chapter 6, realistic and appropriate? What would be included
in your inventory of necessities in the case of a similar catastrophe? Why?
13. What factors of character and circumstance justify Randy's assuming responsibility for and authority over
Fort Repose? Is his thought in Chapter 7--"When you had the responsibility you also had the right to
command"--explanation enough?
14. To what extent does "survival of the fittest" apply in Fort Repose after The Day? What do Randy and
the others understand that phrase to mean? What do you understand it to mean?
15. What is Babylon? Why is the title Alas, Babylon a good title for this novel? Is Alas, Babylon an
optimistic novel? Why or why not?
16. What is the role of the female characters in the novel?.
17. Analyze the political events that the novel portrays leading up to a nuclear exchange. Is it
convincingly portrayed?
18. Discuss the aftermath of "The Day." How does the novel portray the breakdown of order?
19. Why does Edgar Quisenberry commit suicide? What does his death illustrate?
20. What are the symbolic roles of the image of darkness, and the radioactive jewelry, in the story?
21. What is the novel's political message?
22. Where does the climax of the novel take place?
23. What part did the Henry's play in the survival of the community after The Day?
24. What happened to the color line between black and whites in the Bragg community?