On the Beach

Dwight Towers is an officer in the United States Navy who has been trapped in Australian waters after the war. Literally and metaphorically submerged during the short-lived war that destroyed the Northern Hemisphere and his entire life, Dwight surfaces in Australian waters as a man without a country or a family. As a navy officer, Dwight Towers exemplifies responsibility, discipline, and professionalism, putting aside his grief to fulfill his obligations. His attention to military protocol and his dedication to his crew demonstrate his strong leadership qualities and patriotism. Dwight’s dedication to his mission highlights military personnel’s sacrifices and the importance of command in times of disaster. However, Dwight’s willingness to follow orders is also problematic: It is precisely this reflexive obedience that contributed to the nuclear war. He explains, “I’d like to do things right, up till the end. If there’s an order I’ll obey it” (221). Though he knows the United States no longer exists, Dwight stubbornly refuses to break any military protocols, which, in the end, denies him and his crew simple pleasures at the end of their lives. For example, Dwight refuses to allow Moira or any of the crew members’ girlfriends to join them on the submarine for its last cruise, denying them the opportunity to spend their last moments alive with loved ones. Similarly, he remains loyal to his wife and children even though they are dead and denies Moira and himself a chance to experience the fullness of their deep connection.

Stoic and almost robotic, Dwight remains emotionally distant even as his friendship with Peter’s family develops. Only his relationship with Moira Davidson creates a crack in his unperturbable facade. At first, Dwight appears to pity Moira in her drunken despair, but he can’t deny his attraction to her humor and youthful sense of adventure. Gradually, a friendship develops, and Dwight’s influence on Moira inspires her to trade in her hedonism for hard work as she helps her family prepare their farm and takes typing classes. Moira realizes quickly that Dwight, like Mary, lives in a fantasy world, pretending that his family is still alive. Seeing him purchase gifts for his dead children solidifies the truth, though she also sees his softer side: “The Supreme Commander of the U.S. Naval Forces was really just a little boy, she thought” (190). Despite his outward appearance of calm, Dwight is plagued by grief. He lives in his memories, choosing nostalgia over despair, and even after he sees North America’s destruction with his own eyes, he says, “You don’t want to remember how a person looked when he was dead—you want to remember how he was when he was alive. That’s the way I like to think about New York” (53). Dwight’s emotional issues highlight the psychological toll of nuclear war.

Mary is Peter Holmes’s young wife and typifies the 1950s housewife. Content to stay home and care for their child, Mary finds peace and fulfillment in domesticity and sees her home as an impenetrable haven against the slow trickle of radiation particles. A dynamic character, Mary displays a wide range of reactions to her circumstances. At times, Peter becomes frustrated with what he sees as her refusal to comprehend reality. She willfully ignores facts: “The news did not trouble her particularly; all news was bad, like wage demands, strikes, or war, and the wise person paid no attention to it” (212). Moira describes what she sees as Mary’s absurd behavior: “They’ve got that flat upon three years’ lease. She’s planning to plant things this autumn that’ll come up next year” (60). Mary compartmentalizes her circumstances by planning for her future.

Moira is the daughter of a landowner with a large cattle and sheep farm. Young and full of life, she feels aimless in the post-war days and chooses revelry over the mundane routine others adopt. Moira’s nihilism contrasts with the optimism of Peter and Mary Holmes, emphasizing the range of responses to existential crises. Having never had the chance to pursue a career or family, Moira stares down the end of her life with anger and bitterness, and she uses alcohol to blunt the pain. Moira is a dynamic character who undergoes a profound change throughout the story as her relationship with Dwight inspires a sense of purpose and meaning within her. Her deep feelings for Dwight expose her to the raw emotions of love and longing, which challenge her preconceived values of detachment and self-preservation. She spends more time with her family helping her father prepare the farm and contemplates happy memories from her childhood, though they are tinged with the sadness that she will never have children. Moira’s tenderness and sensitivity to Dwight’s emotional state reveal her true character. She puts aside her physical desire and emotional needs to honor Dwight’s love for Sharon and empathize with his grief: “She had known for some time that his wife and family were genuine to him, more real by far than the half-life in a far corner of the world that had been forced upon him since the war” (92). Moira’s emotional development from selfish debauchery to self-sacrificing love speaks to The Importance of Human Connection amid suffering and despair.