How is "By the Waters of Babylon" a classic hero's quest?

The classic hero would have had a goal or quest to perform in order to earn the honor from the people in his or her village. There would be preparation, fasting and praying and then the send-off for the voyage. The training at the hands of his father, John, in the story learned how to retrieve metal from the "dead-houses".

He did something forbidden by going away to the Lands of the Gods to see where they had lived. He had a vision of the way things were before the Burning time.  He learned some great thing about the Gods...they were simply people.

Later, he returned home. He told his discoveries to his father, but not to all of the people at the same time. His father too had learned not to tell all of the truth all at once. So, a great hero had to learn to bide his time and wait for the right time to reveal what he had learned.