In the following excerpt, Siegel focuses on the figures of General Cummings and Sergeant Croft who see "that there is a pattern, [and that] it means ... the presence of a malign supernatural power... "

In a New Yorker interview published after The Naked and the Dead had scored its sensational success, Norman Mailer said of his novel: "It has been called a novel without hope. I think actually it is a novel with a great deal of hope It finds ... that even in man's corruption and sickness there are yearnings and inarticulate strivings for a better world, a life with more dignity." This statement is a remarkable example of how erroneous an artist can be about his creation.

The yearnings and inarticulate strivings of men for a better world of which Mailer speaks are shown in The Naked and the Dead with a sense of hopelessness about their...