Reply #20: Looks like we are both "right"

[Lefty_the_Right]

Moira's sobbing episode at the end of the chapter is one of the few emotional scenes in the book, and Moira's only tearful bout. The stoicism and calmness of the characters is surprising, considering they are living through that last days of humanity on earth. Their reactions are a reflection of the novel's epigraph—the world will end "not with a bang but a whimper." This quotation, which comes from T.S. Eliot's poem "The Hollow Men," tells us how the story will end even before the novel opens. As the novel progresses, we see the characters continue to fill their time with their daily routines, taking little time to cry out against their fate and reaffirm the dignity of humanity.

http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/onthebeach/section1.html