The Beach

Richard bonds with Keaty and Unhygienix by playing a Nintendo Game Boy, and the Game Boy represents how the island residents are more connected to the outside world than they want to admit. The Game Boy is initially what helps Richard and Keaty become friends, as they swap tips on games and start friendly competitions. In order for the Game Boy to work, however, it requires batteries, which are scarce at the camp as they can only be obtained on the mainland—a trek that campers inevitably take once they run out supplies. Thus, the Game Boy symbolism makes it clear to the reader (if not to Richard and the other campers) how superficial the campers’ off-the-grid experience on the island really is. One early sign of problems in the camp community is how everyone acts selfishly with batteries, with Keaty being unable to get them from anyone else because he has borrowed so many already. Although the camp members like to think of themselves as self-sufficient, the necessity of Rice Runs for vital supplies like food and batteries shows that the camp is not as isolated from the outside world as some members would like to think.

Like the media that Richard has consumed about the Vietnam War, the Game Boy also affects the way the Richard sees the world around him. He begins to see the work he does with Jed as “missions,” a word could describe the activity of soldiers during the Vietnam War but could also describe levels in a video game. Richard increasingly imagines himself in a fantasy world, like he’s playing a game, viewing failure as a “Game Over,” but not fully appreciating the life-or-death consequences of his actions. Richard came to the beach searching for something more real and authentic, but ironically, he spends much of his time living in fantasies, which reflects how the beach falls short on its promise of delivering a utopia. In The Beach, the Game Boy represents how despite the beach camp’s promise of an authentic experience that’s independent from the outside world, in reality, the beach camp is just an escapist fantasy.