# XIX: Starlight on the Foam explained — The Blue Lagoon > Chapter companion for The Blue Lagoon by H. de Vere Stacpoole. ## What happens Mr. Button, having gone off the drink, hides a rum cask on the reef to avoid temptation. Over six months, the cask's presence begins to haunt him, and he eventually succumbs, mixing rum with coconut juice. In a drunken stupor, he mistakenly believes he left the dinghy on the reef and swims the lagoon, narrowly escaping a shark as he collapses beside the cask. ## Themes in this chapter ### Isolation and Survival Mr. Button's solitary struggle with alcohol on a remote island highlights the challenges of survival and self-discipline. ### The Sublime and Terrible Nature The starlit lagoon, phosphorescent fish, and the shark's silent approach evoke nature's beauty and danger. ## Character check-ins ### Mr. Button Struggles with temptation, hides the rum cask, and eventually gives in to drink, leading to a dangerous swim across the lagoon. ### Dick Disappointed at not seeing more rats; has his hair cut by Mr. Button. ### Emmeline Experiences occasional headaches from sun glare; enjoys the idyllic island life with Dick. ### Paddy Button Referenced as the same person as Mr. Button; his drunken swim is described. ### Jack Dogherty Mentioned in the story Mr. Button tells about the Merrow, which triggers his craving for rum. ## Key lines > It’s a baste I’ve been,” said the repentant one⁠—“a brute baste.” He was quite wrong; as a matter of fact, he was only a man beset and betrayed. Mr. Button calls himself a beast in regret, but the narrator clarifies he is simply a man overwhelmed by his circumstances. _Highlights Mr. Button's self-reproach and the narrator's sympathetic perspective._ > The spirit in the little cask had been whispering across the lagoon for some weeks; at last it began to shout. The rum's temptation gradually grew from a subtle urge to an overwhelming demand. _Personifies the rum as a persistent, escalating temptation._ > It was a fatal story for him to remember and recount; for, after his companions were asleep, the vision of the Merrow and Jack hobnobbing, and the idea of the jollity of it, rose before him, and excited a thirst for joviality not to be resisted. Telling the tale of Jack Dogherty and the Merrow backfired, as it stirred an irresistible craving for drink and merriment. _Shows how storytelling can inadvertently trigger relapse._ > Green coconut juice and rum mixed together are pleasant enough to drink, but they are better drunk separately; combined, not even the brain of an old sailor can make anything of them but mist and muddlement. Mixing coconut juice and rum creates confusion and poor judgment, even for an experienced sailor. _Explains the cause of Mr. Button's subsequent reckless behavior._ > It was the night patrol of the lagoon, who had heard in some mysterious manner that a drunken sailor-man was making trouble in his waters. A shark, like a silent guardian of the lagoon, sensed the disturbance caused by the intoxicated swimmer. _Portrays the shark as a menacing yet almost sentient presence._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_blue_lagoon_se/chapters/part-iii-xix-starlight-on-the-foam - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_blue_lagoon_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_blue_lagoon_se/chapters