Dissatisfaction Quotes in On the Beach

How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #7

"It's the same at the University," she said. "There are many more enrolments now than there were a few months ago." (5.126)

As time creeps closer to that fateful September, the Australian survivors start acting completely differently. Instead of indulging in a feast of vices, they decide to buckle down and get to work. Weird. Why is that?

Quote #8

Everyone was going a bit mad these days, of course. [...] All with an eccentricity that verged on madness, born of all the times they lived in. (5.226)

Peter and Mary have their garden; John Osborne has his Ferrari; and Moira and Dwight have their doomed almost-romance. Although their specific situations differ, each of these characters is doing the same thing—clinging to one tiny aspect of his or life in order to ignore the giant, irradiated elephant in the room.

Quote #9

When she did so she was concerned at his appearance; he [...] had gone a yellowish colour beneath his tan, and in unguarded moments he was depressed. (7.40)

You know things are getting bad when Dwight Towers gets depressed—that dude is more chipper than Dudley Do-Right. Unfortunately, Dwight has just gotten back from a months-long trek to the country of his birth, where he was finally forced to face the fact that it has been completely and utterly destroyed. So, yeah—dude is pretty bummed out.