Stories of Your Life and Others

“If a bricklayer drops his trowel, he can do no work until a new one is brought up. For months he cannot earn the food that he eats, so he must go into debt. The loss of a trowel is cause for much wailing. But if a man falls, and his trowel remains, men are secretly relieved. The next one to drop his trowel can pick up the extra one and continue working, without incurring debt.” 

As one of the pullers tells this apocryphal story, he paints a picture of the ultimate worthlessness of a single human life in the scheme of such grand endeavor as building the Tower of Babylon. Although just a joke to scare the new miners, the tale within the story reflects how the set of moral and pragmatic priorities radically changes when humans decide to reach the seat of God. Moreover, the joke humanizes the pullers, lending them a casual familiarity amid the fantastical nature of the story.

“To look up or down was frightening, for the reassurance of continuity was gone; they were no longer part of the ground. The tower might have been a thread suspended in the air, unattached to either earth or to heaven.”

The workers are “no longer part of the ground.”—they do not belong to the earthly world anymore. Their lives are now a part of a ‘thread’ that, although as yet “unattached,” aims to bring them in direct contact with God. Their human purpose has changed, and they have no place among mere mortals who merely walk the earth.

“Men were frightened to touch it. Everyone descended from the tower, waiting for retribution from Yahweh for disturbing the workings of Creation. They waited for months, but no sign came. Eventually they returned, and pried out the star. It sits in a temple in the city below.” 

The tale describing the star hitting the Tower symbolizes the deep fear humans feel while attempting to reach the Heavens—and yet, they remain undaunted in their self-appointed purpose. They wait for retribution from Yahweh but choose to ignore the star as a warning. This speaks of the existence of true free will, which humans exercise in the most self-aggrandizing way possible: by attempting to usurp God’s seat.