It's interesting to see the quick popularity of the Guardian's "real life" Lord of the Flies story, but reactions to it do seem slightly one dimensional. Essentially it's a single case study, and there are a lot of aspects which make it differ from Golding's premise. 1/

Can't help thinking of Pitcairn, WW2 Japanese hold-outs, & other egs. This blog post looks at the story of the 6 boys on 'Ata with a more nuanced sense of social/cultural context, & the advantages gained from the island having been previously inhabited: http://readingthemaps.blogspot.com/2020/05/an-atan-utopia.html 2/

Perhaps the most interesting aspect the reaction the Guardian article is generating is just that, i.e. - the fact that a positive story of innate human goodness & cooperation is striking a chord in these distinctly challenging times of global pandemic, polarised politics, etc. 3/

There's also a long tradition of fictional cast away stories as metaphors for utopias/dystopias, from 'Robinson Crusoe' to 'Silent Running' & many more. 'Lord of the Flies' is one iteration, & it's worth remembering Golding wrote it as a reply to Ballantyne's 'Coral Island.' 4/

I could probably write a whole blog post on this subject, but this thread will have to suffice for now. Me and Wilson have got other fish to fry first. END/