THINKER'S ALMANAC - September 10

How did the narrative of the novel ‘Lord of the Flies’ parallel the actual case of a group of Catholic school boys who were marooned in 1966?

Subject:  Human Nature - The Boys From Ata

Event:  Six boys rescued after being marooned for 15 months on a desert island, 1966

In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart.

― Anne Frank

One of the oldest debates in philosophy and psychology is about the inherent nature of the human species.  The British philosopher Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) argued that human nature was basically selfish and brutish and that without some kind of sovereign authority ruling over society, it would plunge into chaos and war.  A philosopher with an alternative view to Hobbes was Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778).  For Rousseau, rather than taming mankind, it was civilization that made humans corrupt and selfish.  In pre-agricultural societies, man was a noble savage -- moral, cooperative, and generous.

One classic novel that reflects the Hobbesian view, is William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, published in 1954.  The story is about a group of British schoolboys who are marooned on a deserted island after their plane crashes.  Without adult supervision, the boys attempt to institute democracy, but soon they are bickering and fighting with each other.  By the time the British Navy arrives to rescue them, the boys’ island paradise has descended into smoldering chaos with three boys dead.

Although Golding’s story is pure fiction, there is a real life Lord of the Flies case that occurred 11 years after the publication of Golding’s novel.  This story, however, aligns more with Rousseau’s view of human nature rather than Hobbes’.

In June 1965, six boys from a Catholic boarding school on the Pacific island of Tonga commandeered a fishing boat.  As night fell, the sea and the sky became stormy, and without a map or a compass, the boys became disoriented, drifting at sea for eight days before they spotted a small, rocky island called Ata.  

Once ashore the boys, ranging from ages 16 to 13, established a camp and worked together to survive until they were rescued 15 months later -- on this day in 1966.  The boys did quarrel from time to time, but they stayed together and took care of one another.  They planted a garden, stored water in hollowed-out tree trunks, set up chicken pens, and even set up a badminton court.  Unlike their fictional counterparts in Lord of the Flies, the boys on Ata built a permanent fire and never allowed it to go out or to get out of control.

If not for historian Rutger Bregman, the Lord of the Flies version of humanity might have won the day.  It is certainly more dramatic and probably more literary than the true story of the boys on Ata.  Writing a book on the conflicting views of human nature by Hobbes and Rousseau, Bregman began searching newspaper archives for a real-world Lord of the Flies scenario.  It’s this quest that led him to the almost forgotten case of six Catholic school boys.

Recall, Retrieve, Recite, Ruminate, Reflect, Reason:  What contrasting views did Hobbes and Rousseau have about human nature; how did the book Lord of the Flies and the true story of the boys from Ata relate to this difference?

Challenge - Hopeful or Hopeless Humanity:  In his book Humankind - A Hopeful Story, Rutger Bregman presents the reader with a thought experiment:  imagine you are a passenger on a jetliner that is forced to make an emergency landing.  As the plane lands, it falls apart and fills with smoke, causing everyone aboard to disembark.  Based on this scenario, which of the two scenarios do you think is the most likely? How does your choice reflect your view of human nature?

On Planet A, the passengers turn to their neighbors to ask if they are okay.  Those needing assistance are helped out of the plane first.  People are willing to give their lives, even for perfect strangers.

On Planet B, everyone’s left to fend for themselves.  Panic breaks out.  There’s lots of pushing and shoving.  Children, the elderly, and people with disabilities get trampled underfoot.

Also on This Day:

September 10, 1945:  On this day, Vidkun Quisling was convicted of high treason for his collaboration with the Germans during World War II.  A Norwegian politician, Quisling met with Hitler in April 1940, just prior to the Nazi invasion of Norway, and he was appointed Minister-President during the Nazi occupation of Norway.  After the unconditional surrender of Germany in May 1945, Quisling was arrested and put on trial for his treasonist activities during the war and for his collaboration with the Nazis.  After his conviction, he was executed by firing squad on October 24, 1945.  Since that time his name has been synonymous with anyone who collaborates with the enemy. The word quisling is a classic example of an eponym, a word derived from a real or imaginary person. For example, the word shrapnel evolved from Henry Shrapnel, an English artillery officer who developed an exploding shell that sent out bits of metal. Most often the capitalized proper noun that refers to the specific person becomes lowercase as it is transformed into a general noun, adjective, or verb (2).

Sources:

1-Bregman, Rutger.  Humankind - A Hopeful History.  Bloomsbury Books, 2020.

2-http://www.historyinanhour.com/2010/10/24/vidkun-quisling-the-norwegian-nazi/