Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death by suicide, and genocide.

Beach Music highlights the lasting mental and emotional effects of trauma. Specifically, the novel unpacks the way trauma can extend from one generation to the next.

The most profound example of generational trauma in the novel is that which Shyla inherits from her parents. Ruth and George Fox experienced profound suffering during World War II when they were subjected to the cruelty and violence of the Nazi regime. Ruth and George respond to their nightmarish experiences in different ways. Ruth shares her story and her ongoing anxiety with her daughter. Jack overhears Ruth’s endless warnings to Shyla, evidence of her internalized terror of danger and death: “Close that door when you talk to me […] or we’ll all be dead of pneumonia […] Go and wash your hands. Don’t play in the dirt anymore. God didn’t make you an ant […] Turn off that stove. Are you crazy or what?” (474). Jack recalls Shyla’s “small, fearful face” (474) in that moment and reflects on the deep fear and anxiety that Ruth instilled in her daughter. This is a darkness that Shyla is never able to shake.