On the Beach by Nevil Shute - Book Report/Review Example

On the Beach A novel by Nevil Shute (1983) ISBN-13: 978-0345311481. Ballantine books. Shute's "On the Beach" begins with the nuclear war having ravaged the Northern Hemisphere. From the nuclear devastation, Australia has been spared and only a few months were left. Australia's most celebrated scientist declares that the country is at doomsday; therefore, everyone should prepare. He is rebuffed by a challenger who says that is a miscalculation as a thousand people can be relocated into the northern hemisphere, where radiation levels may be lower. To ascertain who among these scientists is correct, the US submarine captain (Armand Assante) is asked to take a mission to the north. Meanwhile, global winds slowly carry the deadly radioactive waste towards the Continent which is why he is to find many dead along the way. Human and animal life are dying as a result of sickness produced by radiation, a kind of cholera which begins with nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, increasingly violent spasms, and, finally, death from exhaustion. As everyone is dying either through radioactive poisoning or cyanide pills, Australia, like the other southern nations, distributes cyanide pills to those who want them to die an easier death. This is the story of the last people on earth as written by Nevil Shute. Nevil Shute's beach stands for the ocean of time, where the last waves are swishing and breaking in the sand on those shores. The beach is that of Melbourne, Australia, the southernmost city of the world, where the people live out their last days of their existence. "On the Beach" is a dreamlike journey into the darkness of the Nuclear Age which is our time. The basic premise of the novel is that nuclear war, if it comes, will have only one outcome. While not every corner of the earth will be charred and destroyed badly, everyone will suffer. This is a reminder of that fact. Who is to blame The complete depopulation of the northern hemisphere is based on mistakes and misunderstandings, according to the novel. The southern hemisphere is only waiting for the deadly nuclear to filter out to them. Shute, said to be an aeronautical engineer who helped Britain design and build nuclear weapons, would sit down more than a decade later to write this alarming account of the possible effects of his own work, and it is appreciated. What is intensely interesting of the book is watching how people react to what is destined. Many just go on floating with what is to be, while some behave like it will never happen. The book has some limitations. For example, the characters are believable, but there is not much variation in their responses. While the will to survive is natural to a person, it is most disappointing to find that in the story, no one tries to survive. For example, there are no accounts of one building a radiation-proof shelter, one storing food or doing something towards expanding any chances of life even for just one single day. Every character in the book just lives with his impending death as though a foregone conclusion. . What about the teenagers Didn't they feel frustrated, betrayed, knowing they will never have their adulthood Why aren't there teenagers agitated in the story There is too much dialogue to a fault and these are used to convey information. The language of the American naval commander begins excessively with "Say" or "Why" but not as a question. Shute also constantly refers to an infant as "it." There is a deep vein of discrimination that runs through the book. Peter is clearly one of the main characters and a channel through which Shute uses to analyse the approaching end. Peter thinks, "These bloody women, sheltered from realities, living in a sentimental dream world of their own! If they'd face up to things they could help a man, help him enormously. While they clung to the dream world they were just a bloody millstone round his neck" (141). Was Shute blaming the nuclear war on the irresponsible little nations What could account for this Shute's main characters are talking about the design to preserve knowledge: "The girl turned to Peter curiously.'what sort of books are they preserving All about how to make the cobalt bomb'" (105). Moira makes it a joke, which only reinforces precisely what is meant. The link between misused knowledge and destruction is very obvious in the book. One good point. In retrospect, another saving grace from the bland plot concerns the mystery of the radio signals coming from Seattle. If it was used for some effect, it has served its purpose. Regardless of whether it was scientifically accurate, the book drove home the uselessness of nations building up nuclear arms against each other. Shute's characters have self-respect to the end, and he makes a dig at how newspapers would rather have stories of "pin up girls and indecent assaults" than stories like this. This book had an interesting spin on it because of the way the world ends. It is more a story of human nature than science fiction. It makes you appreciate life. Although the beginning and build up is a little slow and dull in the making, the climax and ending teaches each reader to appreciate what moments they have to live for. It shows the brutality of war, and the consequences that result. Nevil Shute forces his readers to reflect on what they value and appreciate that they don't have to face what the characters face. Nevil Shute makes the reader ask, what would I do if I found myself in that situation He painted a life and people coming to grips with what a terrible fate they faced. And through no fault of their own, they could not escape it. While each character comes to terms with his fate, the last sorry scenario goes, "The world doesn't go out with a bang. It goes out with a whimper." Everybody dies to sleep to a soundless end in this world -- as distinct from its noisy beginning. Shute has important political lessons for citizens in today's fragile international environment, but his book's beauty is found not only in its characters and messages about the value of life and living up to the last moment. Being an English, Shute may not have the best grammar and his sentence structures wanting, but it does not take away from the book. Shute's world view is very straightforward. He looked at life and society as an engineer would, observing problems, investigating their sources, and proposing solutions. Shute was warning the world to come to its senses and avoid nuclear proliferation and confrontation. Some readers ask why life on earth must come to such an absurd end. The only answer is, "We have been too silly to deserve a world like this." After poisoning their child with cyanide and about to swallow their own pills, Lieutenant Holmes and his wife, Mary, ask each other if anyone might have prevented the course of events, and the Lieutenant says: "I don't know, some kinds of silliness you just can't stop. If a couple of hundred million people all decide that their national honour requires them to drop cobalt bombs upon their neighbour, well, there's not much that you or I can do about it. The only possible hope would have been to educate them out of their silliness." And that's education tied to correcting all these nuclear silliness. Communication is necessary. These countries trying to stockpile nuclear war heads to use against each other should talk. This is the message of Shute. Read More