Ou-dis-sun is a mispronunciation of the Hudson River. It is a clue to the actual setting of the story, which is New York City after a terrible bombing. The short story takes place many, many years after the destruction, and the names of places have changed over time.Click to see full answer. Hereof, what does Ubtreas mean?UBTREAS is part of a broken sign that once said SUBTREASURY. John encounters it when he’s exploring New York City in Stephen Vincent Benét’s “By the Waters of Babylon.” When John ventures into New York City, he finds the broken remnants of buildings, though some have remained intact.Beside above, what does the river symbolize in by the waters of Babylon? The great river in the story “By the Waters of Babylon” is the Hudson River. Most notably, the river separates Manhattan, New York from New Jersey. The great river, which John calls the “Ou-dis-sun,” is one of the main clues in the story that alerts readers to which great city of the gods John is exploring. Similarly one may ask, what is the place of the gods in by the waters of Babylon? The Place of the Gods was “newyork,” or New York, and its great river was the Ou-dis-sun, or the Hudson River. There was the great river below [the cliff], like a giant in the sun.What is the main conflict in by the waters of Babylon?John’s internal conflict is his fears while he is trying to figure out if the “Gods” are dead. John’s external conflict is against real or imagined outside threats, such as a pack of wild dogs and the Hudson River, which almost gets rid of him.