Alas Babylon Ch. 5
Read Along PPT
Thinks it’s an earthquake, but in Florida?
Thinks he hears thunder, but in winter?
Sees “to his left, in the east, an orange
glow heralded by the sun” (91) and “in
the south a similar glow faded” ; imagines
it was a sun rising and setting but knows
that’s not possible
 Was actually two nuclear explosions (from
warheads of missiles lobbed by
submarines)
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Randy awakens to shaking
One hit the SAC base at Homestead
Second one hit Miami International Airport
He knows he has just witnessed “the
incineration of a million people…”(92)
 Helen’s response: “so soon?”
 “It was so quiet. It was wrongly quiet”
(93)
 A third explosion (“another unnatural sun
was born”)- they feel heat and Peyton’s
screams from the flash
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◦ This went off in the direction of Tampa
◦ This time they saw the mushroom cloud
The nuclear exposions
Peyton can’t see (blinded from the flash)
 Fourth blast- hits MacDill (randy figures where using his “flashand-sound” count)
 Randy goes to get Dr. Gunn for Peyton
 Passes a dead woman on the side of the road- thinks to himself
not to stop but does anyway and confirms she’s dead

◦ Yesterday he said he would have stopped, but today there were “new
laws and rules” of survival
◦ “today, a man saved himself and his family and to hell with everyone
else” (98)
◦ “with the use of the H-bomb, the Christian era was dead, and with it
must die the tradition of the Good Samaritan”
Explosions
cont…

“Civil Defense broadcast”
◦ Red Alert declared
◦ Believe that country is under attack
◦ Avoid using the phone
◦ Obey the orders of your local Civil Defense Director
 CONELRAD (Control of Electromagnetic Radiation) was
a method of emergency broadcasting to the public of
the United States in the event of enemy attack during
the Cold War. It was intended to allow continuous
broadcast of civil defense information to the public
using radio or TV stations, while rapidly switching the
transmitter stations to make the broadcasts unsuitable
for Soviet bombers that might attempt to home in on
the signals.
Randy turns on radio
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Traffic
People lining up at gas stations
Arrives at Riverside Inn (where Dr. Gunn
lived and worked)
◦ All of the guests milling around confused and
complaining about no TV, messed up schedules,
etc…

Finds Dr. Gunn- everyone having heart
attacks in the hotel so he’s busy
◦ Dan’s reaction to the bombs is ANGER (see his
reaction pg. 104)
Chaos
Sea and air battle off the coast of
Jacksonville
 Governor had issued a “pronouncement
from Tallahassee- all target cities were to
be evacuated at once” (106)
 No mention of Miami or Tampa (we
assume they were destroyed)
 Randy wants “real news”- more than what
he hears from FL (feels as if “Florida were
fighting the war alone”)

On the radio
Convicts carrying weapons walking on the
side of the road
 A wrecked car- luggage had been looted
but body still there

More chaos on his drive back
Florence is headed to work – “people will
have all sorts of messages” (107)
 Alice goes to work- “maybe a good many
people will be reading….once they find out
that Civil Defense pamphlets are stocked
in the library” (108)
 Considers getting supplies while in town
 Mob at Western Union of people trying to
wire messages and money

◦ “Nothing is going through north of
Jacksonville….”
Florence and Alice’s reaction to
chaos…
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Comes in to ask a message to be sent to
Atlanta branch of Federal Reserve Bank:
“Urgently need directive on how to handle
current situation” (111)
◦ We know things are serious now especially
since Edgar tells us earlier he has never closed
his bank or worried, not even in the Great
Depression….
Edgar Quinsenberry

Florence (while trying to send his
message) gets a flash in her eyes and
then sees a message from JX that they
saw another explosion and mushroom
cloud (112)
◦ She can’t send the message because
“Jacksonville doesn’t seem to be there any
more”
Another explosion (#5)

“at the bank nothing was right”
◦ No phones, no staff, no customers
He never worried himself with
emergencies and cant believe all
cities bombed at once (in disbelief)
 People start trying to take out savingseverything (113) and his reaction is “no
reason for that. They ought to know the
bank is sound!” (ironic- because paper
money now means nothing…)

“Fort Repose’s financial structure
crumbled in a day” (112) /
Edgar’s reaction…
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Mrs. Estes suggests they put a withdrawal
limit, which Edgar thinks is “nonsense” so he
decides to run things…”This was Edgar’s first,
and perhaps his vital error” (113)
Edgar only just realizes things might be bad
when he figures the U.S. mail has stopped
◦ Reacts by not accepting travelers or out of town
checks or gov. bonds (word spreads and people
start worrying…)
◦ Realizes bank is almost drained of cash…
◦ Decides to CLOSE the bank (116)

“He had forgotten about the law of scarcity”
(117)
◦ Fort Repose had become an “island”
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Supplies off of shelves
“This chaos did not result from a
breakdown in Civil Defense. It was simply
that Civil Defense, as a realistic buffer
against thermonuclear war, did not exist.”
(118)
Families on the move
Highways clogged
No more weapons to be purchased
Town totally out of gas
Chaos cont…
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“If the dollar was worthless, everything was
worthless…..the end of civilization as we
know it meant the end of money” (121)
Edgar cannot see how life could go on if
dollars were worthless…the bank was simply
a “heap of stone”
Thought his was wife was a “fool” and said
this was the end
He had been a banker his entire life, and he
would die a banker (122)
◦ He would not die in a mob, or humiliated
◦ He could not accept such a world

Shoots himself
Edgar commits suicide