The Blue Lagoon is a coming-of-age romance novel written by Henry De Vere Stacpoole, first published by T. Fisher Unwin in 1908. The Blue Lagoon explores themes of love, childhood innocence, and conflict between civilisation and nature.
Plot summary The story centres on two cousins, Dick and Emmeline Lestrange, who are marooned with a galley cook on an island in the South Pacific Ocean following a shipwreck. The galley cook, Paddy Button, assumes responsibility for the children and teaches them how to survive, cautioning them to avoid the "arita" berries [a name Stacpoole just made up], which he calls "the never-wake-up berries". Two and a half years after the shipwreck, Paddy dies following a drinking binge. The children survive on their resourcefulness and the bounty of their remote paradise. They live in a hut and spend their days fishing, swimming, diving for pearls, and exploring the island. As time progresses, Dick and Emmeline undergo the natural process of maturing into young adults and develop romantic feelings for one another. Dick and Emmeline, unaware of the complexities of human sexuality, struggle to understand and express their growing physical attraction to each other. Eventually, they engage in an intimate act, which is portrayed as resembling the courtship rituals observed in the animal kingdom. Dick becomes attentive toward Emmeline, listening to her stories and bringing her gifts. Over several months they have sex, and eventually, Emmeline becomes pregnant. The couple does not understand the physical changes happening to Emmeline's body and does not know about childbirth. When the day comes for delivery, Emmeline disappears into the forest and returns with a child. They discover over time that the baby requires a name, and they call him "Hannah" because they have only ever known an infant called by that name. Dick and Emmeline teach Hannah how to swim, fish, throw spears and play in the mud. They survive a violent tropical cyclone and other natural hazards of island life. Back in San Francisco, Arthur, Dick's father and Emmeline's uncle and guardian, believes the two are still alive and is determined to find them after recognising a child's tea set belonging to Emmeline which was retrieved by a whaler on an island. Arthur finds a captain willing to take him to the island, and they set out. Meanwhile, Dick, Emmeline, and Hannah row their lifeboat to the place where they had once lived with Paddy as children. Emmeline breaks a branch off the deadly arita plant as Dick cuts bananas on the shore. While in the boat with her son, Emmeline fails to notice that Hannah has tossed one of the oars into the sea. The tide comes in and sweeps the boat into the lagoon, leaving Emmeline and Hannah stranded. As Dick swims to them, he is pursued by a shark. Emmeline strikes the shark with the remaining oar, earning Dick time to climb into the boat safely. Although they are not far from shore, the trio cannot get back without the oars, and they are unable to retrieve them from the water because of the shark. The boat is caught in the current and drifts out to sea; all the while Emmeline still grasps the arita branch. Sometime later, Arthur's ship comes across the lifeboat and finds the three unconscious but still breathing. The arita branch is now bare save for one berry. Arthur asks, "Are they dead?" and the captain replies, "No, sir. They are asleep". The ambiguous ending leaves it uncertain whether or not they can be revived.
Characters Emmeline Lestrange: a shipwrecked orphan, the heroine Dick Lestrange: Emmeline's cousin, a shipwrecked orphan, the hero Paddy Button: the galley cook of the wrecked ship Arthur Lestrange: Dick's father and Emmeline's uncle Hannah: Dick and Emmeline's son
History
During a sleepless night, Stacpoole's mind wandered to the concept of a caveman's life. He found himself in awe of the primitive man's ability to appreciate and find wonder in the most basic of things, such as a sunset or thunderstorm. He compared this to the current era, where advanced technology has taken away the mystery and enchantment of these natural occurrences. Modern-day humans have become so consumed with the scientific explanation of things that they have lost the ability to appreciate the beauty and awe-inspiring qualities of nature. By doing so, they have deprived themselves of the simple joys that once filled them with wonder. Stacpoole, being a seasoned medical practitioner, had encountered instances of birth and death, and as a result, these occurrences no longer possessed any sense of awe or enigma for him. This led him to ponder the concept of two young children who are forced to grow up on an isolated island with no access to any form of guidance or knowledge. These children would be subject to the natural phenomena of birth, death, and storms and would have to experience the highs and lows of life without any assistance. Stacpoole found this idea fascinating and was inspired to explore it further. The next day, he began to work on The Blue Lagoon.
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