Alas, Babylon

The Day is the name the people in Fort Repose give to the day of the first attacks, similar to the way the markers A.D. and B.C. denote the eras before and after Jesus Christ. The characters in Alas, Babylon divide their lives into the period before and after the attacks. The Day symbolizes a transition from a reliance on civilization to a more primitive way of living. Day is associated with sunlight and illumination. Ironically, The Day commences for Randy with the illusion that he sees two suns in the sky, one rising and one setting. The perverse illumination of the Day that begins the novel contrasts starkly with the conclusion, in which Randy faces the beginning of the “thousand-year night” (430).

A fort is a structure fortified against enemy attacks. Repose typically connotes tranquility, peace, or even sleep. The small town of Fort Repose quickly becomes isolated from the rest of the country after the attacks. The name Repose is initially ironic, given that life in Fort Repose is as chaotic and frightening as anywhere else in the aftermath of the explosions. However, by the end of the novel the name is more accurate. The characters have bonded—some have even married each other—and their commitment to the community transforms Fort Repose into a sanctuary. They know they have probably already survived the worst that will happen, and they are fortified against the most immediate dangers. They may not exist in a state of actual tranquility, but the knowledge that the war is over, and that the real work of rebuilding can begin in earnest, is brings a new sense of buttressed calm to the town.

At the conclusion of the novel, Randy learns that America won the war. The victory does not change his reality, though it alters the world forever. Randy is glad that America won the war, but there is nothing celebratory in the news, and no sign that the war was worth fighting. The victory signals only the onset of a “thousand-year night” (430). Night is not meant literally, as one thousand years of darkness. Rather, night connotes darkness as an obfuscating force that makes it difficult to see, to plan, and to make progress. Hart says that it may take centuries for contaminated cities to recover, and many major U.S. cities no longer exist. Humans must now take centuries to rebuild from a disaster that they created.