Summary of Alex Garland's first novel, The Beach

The Beach, Alex Garland's first novel, which was published in 1996 and won a prize in 1997, describes the main character, Richard, a young backpacker from England. Not wanting to be an ordinary tourist, Richard wants to find experience outside the textual authority of the guidebook and to have an adventure in Thailand. After Daffy Duck leaves behind a carefully drawn map of a remote island, Richard travels with Etienne and Francoise, the two French travelers he shares the map with and takes with him on his journey south. After they eventually arrive on the secret island, they are all captivated by the utopian world, living and enjoying themselves on the idyllic beach. However, as the book progresses, the idyllic beach becomes a living hell, turning out to be a dystopian nightmare world. The standard elements of utopia and dystopia that Mr. Garland employed in this novel consist of the location, the lifestyle, humanity, and death.

The first two are standard elements of utopia. First, Garland's beach, similar to Sir Thomas More's fictional island in the Atlantic Ocean, is on a secret island somewhere in the Gulf of Thailand. According to Mr. Duck's map, the secret island is in a national marine park west of Ko Samui and Ko PhaNgan (The Beach 5). Unlike Ko Samui and Ko PhaNgan, the secret island is unspoiled because tourists are not allowed to visit the islands in the national marine park. As the book describes, it is “…a lagoon hidden from the sea and passing boats by a high, curving wall of rock…idyllic white sands and coral gardens...waterfalls surrounded by thick jungle…On the white sands, fishing in the coral gardens, is a select group of travelers” (The Beach 12). It sounds like paradise on earth. The second standard element of utopia is the lifestyle. The lifestyle on the secret island is in a primitive and simple state, but full of hedonistic possibilities, happiness, and fulfillment. As Sal, the leader of the camp, says, “[People] come here to relax by a beautiful beach but it isn't a beach resort because [people are] trying to get away from those sorts of places” (The Beach 22). The beach people's demands are few and their desires are limited. Both are easily satisfied by the natural environment, such as fish, fruit, vegetables, and dope. They work in the morning, have dinner at four o'clock, and get stoned after dark. Also, they live like a big family and say good night to someone different in turn until everyone has been mentioned. “No one's name was ever forgotten,” the book states (The Beach 27).

Another standard element of dystopia in this book is three qualities of humanity: selfishness, fear and weakness. The first quality of humanity is selfishness. Francoise, for instance, behaves selfishly when she knows about the secret beach. She is unwilling to share the secret with others, so she warns Richard, “[He] shouldn't tell people about [their] beach” (The Beach 10). The second quality of humanity is fear. People will be afraid to face the truth and choose to escape from the unpleasant situation. For example, after the shark disaster, the beach people avoid having to see Christo—“pretending [the disaster] hasn't happened maybe” (The Beach 62). Sal even says that now that [the people on the beach] have started to get things back to normal, nobody has to find out [about Christo's condition] (The Beach 67). The third quality of humanity is weakness, which will stop people from doing the right thing. For example, “[Richard] knew [the rafters] were going to make the mistake even before it happened,” but he is too weak to give a warning to them (The Beach 70). As a result, Richard’s weakness indirectly causes the deaths of the rafters.

Finally, death also plays an important element of dystopia in this book. It causes the idyllic beach to change from paradise to hell. At the beginning, the behavior of Daffy cutting his wrists indicates that the beach is not a utopia. In fact, just like Daffy says, “Cancer in the coral, blue water, my [beach]. Nearly killed me” (The Beach 1). Second, a series of disasters begins with the rotten rice, which is followed by severe food poisoning. After that, the shark attacks the Swedes, causing the death of Karl and serious injury to Christo. Next, when the dope guards abuse and kill the rafters, the living environment on the beach becomes a nightmare. The dope guards suddenly appear on the beach during the special beach festival, giving a warning and leaving the beach people with a reminder—the dead bodies of the dead rafters. Scared by the dead bodies, the beach people start screaming and crying. With the combination of dope and alcoholic coconut milk, the beach people start to attack the dead bodies, kicking and stabbing them. Finally, when Sal sees the map which Richard had drawn for Zeph and Sammy—the rafters—she realizes that it is Richard who brought the rafters to the beach; therefore, the beach people start to attack Richard. At that moment, the beach has become a living hell.

In conclusion, in The Beach, Mr. Garland uses four standard elements to depict utopian and dystopian society: the location, the lifestyle, humanity, and death. In his depiction, the beach has a beautiful location and peaceful and simple lifestyle, but due to humanity and death, it fails to maintain such a utopian society and becomes a dystopian society. According to an article on Utopia and Dystopia in Wikipedia, “Due to [people's] inherent qualities, attempts at creating such a perfect world inevitably end in failure.” Indeed, people are born inherently evil. People go to the beach to build the civilization, but it turns into a savage society in the end.