The life of every character in Alas Babylon is disrupted and changed as a result of nuclear attack. Many of them took on new roles on the community or found a new purpose in life. There are three specific characters whose lives i think have changed more drastically than others when it comes to their particular personality and place in society. Those three characters that i have in mind are Randy Bragg, Ben Franklin, and Bill McGovern.
Bill McGovern is an older man and the father of Elizabeth McGovern who becomes Randy's wife in the novel. Before the Day, Bill did not feel he was very useful. He was in fact getting old and needed to be taken care of - that responsibility being his daughter's. Really, he was not at all helpless. But his wife was aging much more quickly than she should. So, naturally, Elizabeth established a parent role in the household. After the Day, that was not so tru anymore. In order for anyone to survive, everybody had a job just as important as the other's. Bill's job was using his knowledge of machinery to be halpful in changing the battery in the Model - A for the radio, and other jobs dealing with that subject. This gave him fulfillment and a purpose in life. Without him, they may not have news and others things that had been put together because of his talent. He didn't feel so old anymore. He was just as important and loved as everyone else in the household. .
Ben Franklin took a giant leap into manhood. Before the Day, he was only a boy who attended school with his father to take care of them all. But now without his father, Ben would be the one to take care of his mother and his sister. That responsibility he took very seriously and ws devotely dedicated to. He with held new jobs and tasks that never before would be an obligation at his age. In a very short period of time, Ben Franklin became a man. .
And most of all, Randy Bragg. The times after the Day were the times given to him to prove not only to his family, but also to the entire town, that he was no fool.
