On the Beach the assignment was to respond, in journal format, to the aforementioned novel, and to mention the main charcters and analyze the emotional and spiritual effects of the main events.

On this, the last sheaf of paper in my minute book, I write a finishing entry, a summerizational passage, assembling the most momentous of happenings since the onset of radiation devastation. Early on, all material goods became scarce, necessities were in high demand, and it could take hour to get something as simple as milk. Lieutenant Commander Peter Holmes, who also lives in Melbourne with his wife and their daughter, was called on assignment to …

…mankind itself, for with knowledge comes power, and with power responsibility. In the case of nuclear warfare, that responsibility covers the lives of every living thing on the planet earth, for not a thing will be left untouched by the radiation poisoning. I sincerely wish someone could have seen the consequences before this war began, and see the way the world is left to end, "not with a bang but a whimper" (T. S. Eliot).