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Chapter 54
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Beach, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Tourism and Authenticity
Power, Control, and Human Nature
War, Violence, and Escapism
Secrecy, Fear, and Paranoia
Summary
Analysis
Richard’s first day with Jed is off to a bad start, as Richard’s dream about Daffy left him exhausted the next day. Things get worse when it turns out some people have been showing up at an island neighboring the beach, but Jed assures Richard that he hasn’t told Sal about Richard giving a map to Zeph and Sammy. Still, while Richard can’t get a clear view of the strangers, he thinks Zeph and Sammy are with them.
Richard is continuing to see how it isn’t feasible to live on the beach forever, as the impending approach of Zeph and Sammy represents how the problems of the real world will eventually come for Richard. The distance from the newcomers, which prevents Richard from confirming their identities at first, shows how Richard currently just views the two Americans as a distant problem rather than recognizing their humanity.
Themes
The camp has no good Plan B for if Zeph and Sammy actually arrive with the small group they’ve brought. Richard learns that at one point before he himself arrived at the beach, Jed had been spying on him from a distance, just as Richard himself now spies on the potential newcomers. As the discussions continue, Richard feels less guilty as he finds out that some people have been hearing rumors about the beach even before Richard gave away his map.
Although Richard has been harboring feelings of guilt over potentially spilling the beach’s secret, he learns from Jed that the beach was never quite as secret as people claimed. While this partly reassures Richard, it also reveals yet again how the beach fails to live up to its promised status as a utopia.
Themes
Richard confesses to Jed that he’s afraid the strangers will find Richard’s hidden rucksack, which he left behind long ago before making it to the beach because it was too heavy to swim with. The strangers have been on the nearby island for nine days now, and Jed suspects they’re too busy trying to think of ways back to Ko Pha-Ngan—he has no idea what they’re doing for food and water. Richard jokes about taking a boat over to them and making them walk the plank.
Themes
