On the Beach by Nevil Shute
"On the Beach" by Nevil Shute is a poignant novel that imagines a post-apocalyptic world following a catastrophic nuclear war, which has eradicated the Northern Hemisphere's population. The story unfolds as survivors in Australia grapple with the impending spread of lethal radiation, knowing they have less than a year to live. The narrative centers around a U.S. Navy submarine, the Scorpion, and its crew, who undertake journeys to confirm the fates of other cities and investigate mysterious radio signals from North America. Throughout the novel, characters cope with their mortality in various ways, from engaging in mundane activities to facing their existential dread.
Shute's work offers a critical exploration of the human condition in the face of inevitable death and has been praised for its dramatic depiction of the potential consequences of nuclear warfare. The novel gained significant recognition, becoming a bestseller and later adapted into a film starring Gregory Peck in 1959. Notably, Shute's conservative political stance lends credibility to his anti-nuclear message, allowing it to resonate across different audience demographics. "On the Beach" remains a significant cultural reference point in discussions surrounding nuclear conflict and its devastating impact on humanity.
Subject Terms
On the Beach by Nevil Shute
First published: 1957
Subjects: Death, suicide, and war
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Science fiction
Time of work: One year after a nuclear war
Recommended Ages: 15-18
Locale: Australia and Seattle
Principal Characters:
Peter Holmes , a lieutenant commander in the Royal Australian NavyMary Holmes , his wifeDwight Towers , a commander in the U.S. Navy and the captain of the American submarineScorpion John Osborne , a scientistMoira Davidson , a young womanRalph Swain , a radar operator on theScorpion Lieutenant Sunderson , a radio officer
Form and Content
On the Beach is an account of how the world might end. About a year before the book begins, everyone in the Northern Hemisphere died in a nuclear war that lasted thirty-seven days. It started when Albania managed to drop a nuclear bomb on Naples, Italy. Then Egypt bombed Israel. Eventually, the United States, the Soviet Union, and China unleashed their nuclear arsenals.
Australian scientists estimate that 4,700 warheads were detonated, but little else is known. Lethal levels of radiation are spreading into the Southern Hemisphere, all the principal characters know that they have less than a year to live. They plan to use drugs to commit suicide when they develop the symptoms of radiation disease, which are vomiting, diarrhea, and fever.
Surviving vessels of the U.S. Navy in the Pacific journeyed to Australia after the fighting stopped. A shortage of oil curtailed their operations after they reached Brisbane. Only the nuclear submarine Scorpion is still operational until Commander Dwight Towers scuttles it at the end of the novel.
There is little plot to On the Beach, although the Scorpion makes two journeys. Towers is in command, with Peter Holmes as his Australian liaison and John Osborne as his scientific adviser. The first journey is to other cities in Australia to confirm the deaths of their populations. The second is to North America to investigate mysterious radio signals originating in the Seattle area. While the submarine is in the harbor, Ralph Swain jumps ship. Seattle was his home town, and he finds the corpses of his parents in their house. When the crew of the Scorpion last see him, he is fishing, but already running a fever. When Lieutenant Sunderson goes ashore in a radiation suit, the only items that he brings back are the last three issues of The Saturday Evening Post. Another purpose of the trip was to test a theory that radiation would decrease the farther away they traveled from the equator. Unfortunately, they prove the theory false.
Most of the action consists of people finding ways to cope with their own impending deaths and those of everyone else. Towers pretends that his family in Connecticut is still alive and that the United States still exists: His relationship with Moira Davidson remains platonic because he still considers himself married, he sinks the Scorpion because it contains much classified technology, and, when he takes the boat out on its last voyage, he brings presents for his wife and children with him. Peter and Mary Holmes take care of their child and work on a garden; Peter clears some trees a few weeks before he expects to die. Osborne buys a Ferrari, takes part in automobile races, and wins the last Grand Prix race; he dies in the car, sitting in the driver’s seat after he has put it on blocks. In the first chapters, Davidson drinks and attends parties to forget her imminent doom; later, she learns shorthand. Her parents take care of their farm until the very end. A minor character sets for himself the goal of drinking all the wine in his club’s collection; ironically, he outlives all the others, because alcohol in the bloodstream slows the advance of radiation sickness.
Critical Context
On the Beach dramatized the potential effects of nuclear warfare better than any book before it. Because Nevil Shute was already one of Great Britain’s most popular authors, it had a wide audience. The novel was his biggest best-seller and never went out of print. It reached a larger audience when it was made in a major motion picture starring Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, and Fred Astaire in 1959, although Shute considered it the worst film made from one of his books.
Later works by other artists explored aspects of nuclear war not dealt with directly by Shute. The film Dr. Strangelove (1964) is a satirical examination of the irrationality necessary to initiate a nuclear exchange. It points out that such irrationality is not confined to small countries: An insane U.S. Air Force general orders sixty B-52 bombers to attack the Soviet Union. Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler’s book Fail-Safe (1962), which was made into a film in 1964, is a serious look at how people can become prisoners of the systems that they build: A computer malfunction sends the attack order to a squadron of American B-58 bombers, and the system works so well that the bombers cannot be recalled or stopped.
Antinuclear political activists are normally associated with the political Left. Shute, however, was a conservative who was strongly procapitalist and antisocialist, as shown in his books A Town Like Alice (1950), In the Wet (1953), and Slide Rule. Shute’s political position adds to the credibility of his message in On the Beach because critics cannot dismiss the book as left-wing propaganda.