The Beach

“Etienne, I imagined, was hearing the sound of the surf on this hidden beach, or hiding from the Marine park warden as made his way to the island […]. Abstract thoughts suddenly flipped into thoughts about reality. Following the path of the map had become something that could happen.”

When Richard first hears about the map, he hopes it is real but knows there is a chance it is entirely mythological. He describes the feeling of anticipation, of seeing ahead to how one might feel in an entirely new situation. Etienne hears about the beach and can instantly see himself there, and Richard feels inspired by Etienne’s sense of hope.

“Sometimes it feels to me that I walked into the glade and lit the cigarette, and someone else came along and finished it.”

When Richard and the others reach the island nearest the one with the beach, Richard goes for a walk on his own and stops to sit in a glade. He reflects on this moment as the point where everything changed, as many of the things he does from this point on do not, according to him, reflect his true character. This quote foreshadows The Blurring of Dreams, Hallucination, and Reality that Richard experiences while living on the beach.

“I leaned over and kissed Françoise. She pulled away, or laughed, or shook her head, or closed her eyes and kissed me back. Etienne awoke, clasping his mouth in disbelief. Etienne slept. I slept while Françoise kissed Etienne. Light years above our garbage bag beds and the steady rush of the surf, all these things happened.”

While sitting on the neighboring island waiting to reach the beach the next day, Richard lies awake with anticipation. He notices Françoise cannot sleep either, and together they gaze up at the infinite stars. Richard tells Françoise about parallel universes in which everything that could happen, does. This moment sets the stage for a life that often seems like perfection but is just The Illusion of False Utopias.

“We come here to relax by a beautiful beach, but it isn’t a beach resort because we’re trying to get away from beach resorts. Or we’re trying to make a place that won’t turn into a beach resort. See?”

When Richard meets Sal, Sal explains what she sees as the purpose of their beach life. The philosophy is one of anti-tourism and being opposed to Humanity’s Slow Destruction of Nature, but Sal is in many ways fooling herself into believing she has created a Utopia, when, in fact, the culture she has created is only one small conflict or discovery away from destruction.

“In an all-blue world, color doesn’t exist.”

Being isolated and away from the world changes Richard’s perspective and makes him forget that other places and people exist. The isolation clouds his vision, causing him to see beach life as utter perfection, but he soon realizes he is a victim of The Illusion of False Utopias as the beach culture begins to corrupt itself. Still, it takes several months for Richard to see through the haze and realize that the steps the beach-dwellers take to protect their life go far beyond the realm of moral. The island isolation also causes The Blurring of Dreams, Hallucination, and Reality which Richard sinks deeply into before finally realizing he needs to break free.

“The area caused me to feel uneasy. It represented a link between the lagoon and the outside world, the world I’d all but forgotten, and as I stood by the pool I realized that I didn’t want to be reminded.”

Richard dislikes revisiting the waterfall, as it is the escape to the outside world and represents the ever-present connection to that world. There is always a chance someone may come down and put the entire beach in jeopardy. Richard also feels a strong sense of discomfort when he thinks of the outside world, as he found the demoralization and Humanity’s Slow Destruction of Nature to be deeply disturbing.

“If you are bored of Eden, what is left?”

When Richard volunteers to go to Koh Pha Ngan, Etienne and Françoise question whether he is getting tired of beach life. Richard assures them he is not, and Etienne remarks that once a person is sick of perfection, there is nothing left to strive for. This sentiment carries a dark undertone, as it implies that this is the best life will ever get for Richard and the other travelers, and they are only guaranteed to find disappointment if they leave. This quote illustrates The Illusion of False Utopias.

“Golden rule, first thing to do when you arrive someplace is find out how you can get out again.”

When Jed and Richard start heading to Koh Pha Ngan, Jed takes Richard through the cave wall and out to the other side where the boat is hidden. Until now, Richard was unaware that this was another route of escape, and Jed comments on the importance of knowing how to escape a place, no matter how perfect it is. The thought never occurred to Richard, as he is fully immersed in The Illusion of False Utopias.

 “Shock was right. The person who gazed back at me over the sink was a stranger.”

In Hadrin, Richard takes a moment to look at his reflection in the mirror. He finds that he is deeply tanned, his hair matted and curled, and he does not recognize the person he sees. This moment is symbolic of Richard’s full isolation and immersion into beach life, and it is not until now that he realizes just how separated he has become. This quote demonstrates how dramatically The Blurring of Dreams, Hallucination, and Reality begins to affect Richard.

“For the first time I understood the true preciousness of our hidden beach. To imagine Hadrin’s fate unfolding in the lagoon made my blood run cold. I began scanning the dark bodies that lounged around me as if I were photographing the enemy, familiarizing myself with the images, filing them away. Occasionally couples walked near me and I caught snatches of their conversations. I must have heard twenty different accents and languages. Most I didn’t understand, but they all sounded like threats.”

When Richard and Jed go to Koh Pha Ngan, Richard feels overwhelmed and hateful toward all the people there. He sees them as corrupted, lesser, and just another example of Humanity’s Slow Destruction of Nature. Richard is fully immersed in beach culture by now and set on protecting it at all costs. In this way, he reinforces The Illusion of False Utopias within himself.

“Ask not what your beach can do for you.”

Referring to the famous JFK quote about supporting one’s country, this quote illustrates how the culture which develops on the beach is like its own world, apart from the rest. The people there are expected to be united and serve a single purpose: protecting the beach. This quote illustrates how the beach dwellers adamantly fight against Humanity’s Slow Destruction of Nature.

“There was nothing strange about it. Jed and I were on a covert mission. We had binoculars, jungle, a quarry, a threat, the hidden presence of AK-47s and slanted eyes. The only missing element was a Doors soundtrack.”

When Richard is sent to work the lookout post with Jed, he is thrilled by the prospect of doing jungle reconnaissance. Richard has a strange affection for the Vietnam War, having been born during its time, and fetishizes war violence and atmosphere. He fools himself into believing that it is more like a video game than real life, and this illusion holds until his life is threatened. The longer that Richard stays on the lookout, the more he becomes entrenched in his war fantasies, illustrating The Blurring of Dreams, Hallucination, and Reality.

“At first I could see nothing but the disturbed water and reflected moonlight from where Keaty ad vanished. Then, as the water settled, I began to see light below the surface. A milky glow at first that separated into a thousand tiny stars, next becoming a slowly moving meteor trail behind the brightest cluster. The cluster rose and turned back on itself, and turned again to form a glittering figure eight. Then it sank downward, disappearing for several seconds.”

Throughout the novel, Richard includes rich descriptions of the nature that surrounds him. He is particularly passionate about swimming in the lagoon, observing the corals, fish, and glowing algae. The first time he sees phosphorescence, it is a magical and surreal moment, and these moments serve to demonstrate the preciousness of nature and how Humanity’s Slow Destruction of Nature inspires the beach-dwellers to remain where they are.

“I watched the comet carefully. Actually, when I’d first seen it I had thought it was the shark, which is why I’d hesitated before answering Christo. But now I was sure it wasn’t. Something about the way it moved wasn’t right; it wasn’t gliding and it was too jerky. It was more like a person…. The comet continued on its leisurely path and then, curiously, began to shorten. It took me a moment to realize it was passing into one of the passageways leading out.”

When Richard swims out to the caves to find Christo, he finds him in the air pocket that Richard himself almost died in previously. While inside, Richard gazes down into the water and sees a strange figure swimming in the murkiness below. He believes it to be Daffy, leading him and Christo out of the caves to safety. This quote illustrates Richard’s decline into hallucination.

“The headstone was missing Sten’s second name and date of birth…. But perhaps it was more appropriate that way. Second names felt connected to the world, maybe because they were a link to family and home, so they were never used or asked. It’s a funny thought that if today—for some inexplicable reason—I wanted to track down any of the people I once knew on the beach, I’d have no better clue to work from than a nationality and a fading memory of a face.”

When Sten is buried, Richard notices that his headstone only has his first name on it. This is a symbolic realization because it signifies the total isolation from the outside world that the beach dwellers experience. Everyone on the beach goes by their first name only, and this gesture acts as their disconnect from their previous lives. Looking back, Richard realizes he knows little about the people he spent so much time with, which calls into question how deep those relationships actually are.

“In country, losing your shit comes with the territory!”

When Richard is out on the lookout alone, Daffy starts mocking him and reminding him that everything he is experiencing, he asked for. Richard was excited to immerse himself in the fantasy of the beach (The Blurring of Dreams, Hallucination, and Reality), and of being part of some child’s war game. Daffy notes that, if you want to be part of the Vietnam War, then that means being a part of all of it, including the mental illness that so commonly resulted from the traumas experienced there. Even the beach is not safe from violence and corruption, demonstrating The Illusion of False Utopias.

“He was going to stick around indefinitely, a constant reminder of our troubles, an albatross around our necks.”

Richard starts to despise Karl, who is still in shock from the death of his friend and the shark attack itself. Karl positions himself in a hole on the beach sand and spends his days staring out at the caves. Richard is not the only one who sees Karl as a burden, but he is the one who actively attacks Karl for it. This quote refers to the famous poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. The poem focuses on a sailor who kills a beautiful albatross at sea and spends his days plagued by the memory of it. Richard has been on the island so long that he is desperate to uphold The Illusion of False Utopias.

“Eden to hell in the span of a few seconds.”

Richard watches as Sammy, Zeph, and their companions make their way to the drug fields, unaware of the danger they are in. They are clearly elated and beyond excited to have found the island and the cannabis, but this elation turns to utter fear in a matter of moments when they are taken by the drug farmers, beaten, and killed. This moment demonstrates how easily and quickly The Illusion of False Utopias can be broken.

“I never offered you anything but Vietnam, and only because you asked for it. It so happens you wanted the beach, too. But if you could have had Vietnam and kept the beach, it wouldn’t have been Vietnam.”

Richard was born during the Vietnam War and carries with him a deep fascination for it. This fascination spills over into reality as he starts to see his job on the lookout post as more like a war game. In this moment, Richard finally realizes that he has been living under The Illusion of False Utopias. He has sacrificed time, people, friendships, and more to maintain the secrecy of the beach, but it was all for naught, because the beach was always meant to be destroyed. War is not pretty or fun, and Richard’s vital mistake is in thinking that he can have the fantasy without the harsh reality. This quote is also an example of The Blurring of Dreams, Hallucination, and Reality.

“By tonight, all of our troubles will be behind us. The last month will be concluded. We’ll never have to even think about it ever again […]. The beach is my life, Richard, but it’s yours, too. Don’t forget that.”

Still deep in the delusion of her utopia, Sal assures Richard that the Tet festival will solve all their problems, erase the past, and bring everything together again, thereby saving the beach. Richard already knows he and some others are planning to leave that night, and can see straight through Sal now, but he humors her in this moment.

“My head was filling up. I was remembering the way Cassie had looked at me when I’d let Bugs slip and slide in his shit. And the way a consensus of silence could drop as fast as an Asian rainstorm, and Jean nervously asking me on a date, and unmentioned gunshots. Unnoticed Christo dying in the death tent, Sten’s funeral forgotten in half a day, Karl forgotten on a beach.”

After The Illusion of False Utopias is broken in Richard’s mind, everything that has happened comes rushing back with full clarity. He comes to the stark realization that all his actions, and the actions of others on the beach, which were meant to protect it, in fact ended up leading to its destruction. Furthermore, the utopia they built was never a utopia at all, instead holding dark secrets and deep denial.

“I could not have been more wrong, but that was the way I was thinking. Full of hasty schemes and plans, and the fucked-up optimism that comes from desperation.”

Richard’s narration is frequently self-deprecating, reflective, and full of hindsight. Looking back as he writes of his experiences, he sees the foolishness and delusion in himself, and how The Blurring of Dreams, Hallucination, and Reality and The Illusion of False Utopias created a divide between him and the real world. 

“Karl must have visited Christo before he left. I liked that idea. Visiting his friend, taking his bag, stealing the boat. Cured, all right.”

tent, implying that Karl came to get it and say goodbye to Christo before leaving for home. While everyone initially thought Karl’s perception had broken from reality, Richard is thinking clearly now, and realizes that Karl’s reaction to the shark attack made more sense than all of those who acted as if it never happened. Additionally, Karl’s decision to leave the island illustrates that he was, in fact, thinking clearly.