The theoretical deserted island is a classic conundrum. You’re stranded and alone, no signs of life – but you can bring one thing with you. What do you take? Maybe you bring a picture, for its sentimental value. Perhaps it’s a fire starting kit, for its practical value. Whether it’s useful or emotionally charged, it’s easy to think first of a material object.
It could be the phrasing of the question, but I’ve never heard of a friend joining the hypothetical castaway in isolation. It seems odd that as people so reliant on interpersonal relationships we wouldn’t put another person high on the list of “to bring” items.
I see this choice as one we make subconsciously. Not because we aren’t reliant on relationships in our day-to-day lives, but because when given the choice between spending all our time with one person or with no one, I think many would choose to live lonely on that island – and I might not disagree.
At first glance, bringing a companion seems like the right choice. Someone to watch your back in the woods, help find food and maybe most importantly, someone to keep you company. But I’m not so sure that two humans are capable of living in harmony. Anyone who has spent a year in a college dormitory knows that. Getting along and coming out of the situation able to bear each other’s company is a feat. We’re a social people, but very different from one another. Whether it’s with a stranger or your closest friend, too much interaction isn’t a good thing.
But living with yourself can be just as difficult. As social as we are, it’d be impossible to just live in silence, even if there was no one to talk to. As odd as it may initially feel, you’d probably end up talking to yourself.
In Cast Away, Tom Hanks’ character is stranded on an island with an assortment of random objects. One of these is a volleyball, which he names Wilson. The volleyball becomes his only companion on the island.
Hanks’ conversations with the ball end up being the most interesting and almost the only interactions in the film. The volleyball is really only a second Hanks. It’s an outlet for him to imagine a companion. The emptiness of the inanimate object is filled in by Hanks’ own personality.
In the film, a few of these interactions appear as arguments between Hanks and his silent companion, but in reality it is Hanks trying to justify it to his efforts to leave.
We’ve all got different sides to ourselves. What might be most interesting about living alone on an island would be to see those sides come out. In daily society, we say different things, take different actions and determine how we feel comfortable acting through trial and error.
Alone on an island, there would be no encouragement or discouragement of these aspects of personality, so it’s impossible to say which “you” would become dominant and why. However, it does seem likely that different sides would emerge, maybe pieces of yourself that aren’t normally prominent.
Isolation isn’t a natural condition for us, and it takes a strange toll on our minds and the construction of our personalities. We build ourselves to fit into the society we live in. The removal of that environment would put any person at wit’s end. That kind of seclusion isn’t a situation I could see myself coming out of as the same person, so I expect the same of Tom Hanks or anyone else.
I’m not sure what I would bring with me to a deserted island, whether I’d rather work to live successfully with another person or try to make it out sane on my own. It would be difficult either way. When it really comes down to it, I think I might just bring my dog.