The Beach Research Paper

The relationship between fantasy and reality is developed throughout The Beach through the thoughts and conversations between characters as they travel to and live on the beach. Alex Garland is making a point about what fantasies originate from in a person’s mind as travelling helps form these fantasies into reality as well as how a person reacts to their imaginations become reality. The Beach tells readers through characters such as Richard, Daffy, and Francoise that one’s fantasies are just an adaptation of their realities, only varying in their extremity. The subtle adaptation of reality resulting in a fantasy world which removes hardships and dependencies of a person’s daily life is well represented through Richard’s thoughts and a conversation

Seat belt lights lit, problems switched off” (115). Richard’s expresses that he has irritating problems that cause him to leave hometown to a fantasised environment that could be anywhere else in the world, as long as his mind is able to envision a lifestyle in which problems do not occur or follow him. Maybe add in resetting world so everyone lives on the beach. Francoise’s conversation with Richard about her home and family shows the beach’s strength as a creator and harbourer of individuals’ fantasies as she expresses: “Ah yes.” Francoise added. “To stay on the beach forever. Very easy…” (202). The beach is a fantasy for its inhabitants as they find it is so easy to have necessities of life fulfilled as well as feel they can live on such fantasy world for eternity, without any urge to remember their previous lives. The dependency between Francoise and her family and friends

Just as the beach is a developing or entire fantasy for the characters’ past homes, Daffy is a starting point and contributor for Richard’s fantasy of an almost entirely different version of himself. The extreme nature of Richard’s vision of having the skills and experiences as a soldier in the Vietnam War and using those skills on the beach while scouting the marijuana fields, shows that a fantasy can deviate substantially from reality. Richard’s conversation with Daffy before and during the Americans and Germans arrival at the marijuana fields gives a representation of Richard’s fantasy figure of himself: “(Mister Duck) was dressed in full combat fatigues with an M16 over his shoulder and his face all painted up with green and black camouflage stripes” (348). This is a clear example of how when fantasy consumes a person’s mind to an extent where they, like Richard, develop a detailed model of themselves through an alternate figure and become such model. In Richard’s case he sees what he wishes he could look like through picturing Daffy dressed as a 1970’s era American soldier and following up with focusing on the suiting mindset. Richard’s knowledge of terminology used by soldiers only aids his vision of being one as whenever he gets the chance to re-enact a term or action he does: “I knew what to do