Summary
William Golding's Rites of Passage is the first novel in the To the Ends of the Earth trilogy. In his journal, Edmund Talbot accounts a six month voyage to Australia. Talbot describes passengers of all classes of British society, all of whom have had employment arranged by Talbot's influential grandfather.
Writings in the journal begin to concern a passenger named Reverend Colley,
who is persecuted by Captain Anderson. Upon the crew reaching the equatorial
belt, Colley is found in a drunken stupor. When Talbot goes to comfort him, he
finds a journal of Colley's own keeping near his half-conscious body. Colley
dies after getting drunk. It is also implied that he is sexually assaulted by
the crew and officers. When one of the crew suggests this, the captain swiftly
calls off the investigation into Colley's death, as homosexual intercourse is
punishable by hanging.
Upon going over Colley's journal, Talbot feels guilty that Colley had seen him
as a sort of hero and had wished to know him better. As the novel ends, Talbot
is hesitant about presenting his own journal to his grandfather, though he
concludes that he has no choice.
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