In literature, one of the most curious occurrences is the spontaneous and decisive character of mood. For example, in some stories the mood always remains happy, while in others it is unchanging and will always be lonely and sad, so the author cannot bring warmth and comfort to the story despite his attempts to describe his world gently? By reading short stories such as "The Fog Horn" by Ray Bradbury, "By the Waters of Babylon" by Stephen Vincent Benet, and especially "The Dangerous One" by Madeline Sunshine, the reader can experience the special sensation of this emptiness of feeling . . It is perhaps an unknown literary technique which determines this style of writing. With a direct approach, we can decide that future settings in a utilitarian environment, as well as themes focusing more on don'ts than do's, evoke moods that command the emotions of fear and sadness, and siphon hatred and despair from their reader. To support this idea, we can carefully dissect and examine “By the Waters of Babylon” by Stephen Vincent Benet. It is set in a fairly definitive era, the future (after the 1930s). It is centered around the long abandoned and decrepit city of New York. Several references can be discerned in the allusions to “UBTREAS” (SubTreasury) and “ASHING” (George Washington). The setting is incredibly lively and hits the box, and the theme also resonates with this concept of setting and plot of fitting the theme. The father explains towards the end of the story: “If you eat too much truth at once, you risk dying from the truth. » This theme can be interpreted to mean that knowledge is not what harms the world, but rather the abuse of knowledge that harms it. The theme follows this rule of saying what not to do instead of what to do...... middle of paper ......uote "'Be careful! A dangerous person is on the loose. He roams the city and may be armed.' » (1). The voice uses technical terms, but the reader is still able to grasp the meaning and, as in "By the Waters of Babylon", the tone is very straight to produce a distant and dark feeling. , a future setting and a theme related to the don'ts of something seemingly innocent will leave a sad mood so carefully described previously. If someone decides to write or read a story set in the future when no one else can read, and your mind is controlled by the machine that destroyed the world, it is inevitable that the reader will feels stuck and alone. If this reader himself is reading this on a cold November evening when everything else seems cold and dead, he should enjoy his company and snuggle up a little closer to the radiator..