In literature, one of the most curious events is the spontaneous resolution of mood. For example, in some stories, the atmosphere always remains cheerful, while, in others, it is unchanging and will always be lonely and sad, so much so that the author fails to bring warmth and comfort to the story despite his attempts to portray the world delicately? Reading stories like “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 peculiar sensation of this void of feelings. Perhaps it is an unknown literary technique that determines this style of writing. With a direct approach, we can decide that future settings in a utilitarian environment, along with themes focused more on don'ts than on dos, evoke moods that command the emotions of fear and sadness, and subtract hatred and despair from their reader. effort to support this idea, we can dissect and carefully examine “By the Waters of Babylon” by Stephen Vincent Benet. It is placed in a fairly definitive time, the future (after the 1930s). It centers on the city of New York, long abandoned and decrepit. Several references can be discerned from the allusions to “UBTREAS” (SubTreasury) and “ASHING” (George Washington). The setting is incredibly vivid and hits the box, and the theme also resonates with this concept of setting and plot that fits the theme. The father explains towards the end of the story “If you eat too much truth all at once, you may die of the truth.” This theme can be interpreted to reiterate that knowledge is not what hurts the world, it is the abuse of knowledge that hurts it. The theme follows this rule of saying what not to do instead of what to do...... middle of the paper ......uote “'Attention! A Dangerous One is on the loose. He wanders 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 direct to produce a distant and dark feeling. To conclude, it should be evident that a faded, future setting and don'ts theme of something seemingly innocent will leave a sad atmosphere so carefully described above. If someone decides to write or read a story set in the future when no one else can read and their mind is controlled by the machine that destroyed the world, it is inevitable that the reader will feel abandoned and alone. If this same reader is reading this article on a cold November evening when everything else seems cold and dead, he should enjoy his company and huddle a little closer to the stove..