Literary Devices in Alas, Babylon
Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
Setting
Most people would spend a pretty penny for an extended vacation in sunny Central Florida, right? How about spending the nuclear apocalypse there?Disney's BackyardBefore The Day, Fort Repose is a ti...
Narrator Point of View
Third Person (Omniscient)We spend most of Alas, Babylon sitting safely inside Randy Bragg's head. Although there isn't a ton of insight into Randy's emotional experience, we're shown every step in...
Genre
Dystopian Fiction; AdventureAs a seminal piece of post-apocalyptica, Alas, Babylon can be best described as an example of dystopian fiction. A dystopia is the opposite of a utopia: a world in which...
Tone
Stoic; Distant Though it presents a close account of the aftermath of the nuclear apocalypse, Alas, Babylon maintains some crucial distance from its main characters.Simply put, the novel is more co...
Writing Style
Simple; VividPat Frank was, among many other things, a journalist, so he writes with a simple, approachable style that's eminently easy to understand. For the most part, he serves meat and potatoes...
What's Up With the Title?
Where else to cop a title for your apocalyptic novel than the Book of Revelation, the originator of the genre? The famously dark final book in the Bible, the Book of Revelation depicts a freaky vis...
What's Up With the Ending?
After a year spent struggling to survive, the residents of Fort Repose are getting something they haven't in a long time: visitors. It starts with planes flying low over the city, and culminates wi...
Tough-o-Meter
(4) Base CampOnce a newspaper man, always a newspaperman. A journalist by trade, Pat Frank delivers Alas, Babylon in a simple and easy-to-follow manner. Sure, some of the subject matter might be a...
Plot Analysis
Nuclear? We Hardly Know HerRandy Bragg is a failed politician from the small town of Fort Repose, Florida. Out of the blue, his brother Mark, a high-ranking military official in the Strategic Air C...
Booker's Seven Basic Plots Analysis
Anticipation Stage and 'Call'A failed politician and dedicated morning drinker, Randy Bragg is stuck in a serious funk at the beginning of Alas, Babylon. However, he's woken from this malaise when...
Three-Act Plot Analysis
Act IRandy Bragg is a failed politician from the tiny town of Fort Repose, Florida. One day, out of the blue, his brother Mark, a major military official, contacts him with serious news—the Russi...
Trivia
Pat Frank is not our author's real name. Pat Frank is in fact Harry Hart Frank, a war journalist and government consultant. Didn't put much effort into obscuring his identity, huh? (Source) Fort Re...
Steaminess Rating
PG1950s America—not an era known for its steaminess. In fact, the only aspect of Alas, Babylon that can be described as "hot" are the nuclear explosions that rain down across the United States. N...
Allusions
Literary and Philosophical ReferencesCarl Rowan (2.13)Walter White (2.13)Arnold Toynbee (6.88)Historical ReferencesPresident Woodrow Wilson (1.25)John Ericsson (1.65)President Franklin Delano Roose...