The Beach

The Beach is a novel about a false utopia that creates a deep and powerful delusion in those who find it and choose to live there. The novel begins with Richard’s musing on two main things: the Vietnam War and the desire to experience something new: “[E]verybody wants to do something different. But we all do the same thing” (19). Thailand is slowly degrading in the novel, and though it is touted as a utopia, attracting millions of tourists every year, Richard sees nothing but corruption and waste. When Richard arrives on the beach, he adds to the illusion of the utopia by disassociating from reality and willingly making sacrifices he never thought he would. He isolates himself physically and mentally, falling further into his own mind and his hallucinations of Daffy. Another aspect of Richard’s illusion is his love of video games, which bleeds over into real life as he starts to treat his time in the jungle like a game. He sees the guards as bad guys he needs to avoid and dodge, but his cockiness comes to a grinding halt when his life is put in direct danger.