Alas, Babylon

“Nations are like people. When they grow old and rich and fat they get conservative. They exhaust their energy trying to keep things the way they are—and that’s against nature.”

Mark explains to Randy that countries evolve just like everything else. Given the abundance of differing ideologies and dogmas across the globe, a nation trying to preserve the status quo—or enforce it on others—must inevitably fail. Anyone who resists natural progress is naïve and believes in something unnatural. Wealthy, powerful countries are the most likely to grow complacent, and are therefore the most like to be taken by surprise.

“When a man dies, and his children die with him, then he is dead entirely, leaving nothing to show.” 

Mark accepts that he will probably die during the attacks. He sends his children and wife to Randy so they can survive and bear witness to his existence. His children show the same stoic resolve he possesses, having accepted that their father did his duty. His comments foreshadow the conversation Randy and Lib have later about whether or not they will have children.

“Censorship and thought control can exist only in secrecy and darkness.”

Alice is a librarian. Librarianship is a profession that considers privacy an inalienable right. She does not see that she is hypocritical in her gossiping with Florence, even though they typically talk about matters that Florence learns by reading private telegrams at her job. The two of them profess to maintain secrecy as a public good, while violating it for entertainment.