It is almost a universal question for hikers, explorers, adverturers, campers and in LOST, survivalists.
1. A large knife. Growing up in the 1960s-1970s, America was, in retrospect, in the end phase of its knife culture. My father and his father always carried pocket knives. It was a basic tool. In the scouts, we learned early on how to handle a knife. A knife is a versatile tool. It can be used for cutting, sharpening and digging tough terrain. It can also be used as a defensive weapon.
2. A compass. If one is lost in unfamiliar place, it would be helpful to have a compass to get one's bearings, especially if there is a tropical canopy which could confuse the direction of sunlight. A compass is a navigation tool. It is also a psychological boost to a lost individual because it gives factual information to a person in a time of high stress or crisis.
3. A copy of the U.S. Army's Survival Manual. The book's description sells the importance of such a resource: Army Survival Manual is the finest single source for self-reliance for all extreme circumstances. A must for anyone who wants to know how to survive in primitive conditions. The book is very straightforward with many pictures and user-friendly illustrations, written in easy to understand language. This is just some of the survival information that this book provides: All-climates: arctic, tropics, temperate forest, savannah or desert. All-terrain survival tactics. The Will to Survive. Identify poisonous snakes, as well as edible and non-edible plants. Survival Medicine. Wilderness medicine. Techniques on first aid. Survival in the hottest or coldest of climates. Survival Planning. Make polluted water potable. How to find water. Ways to trap and collection techniques of water. Covers navigation and compass use. Find direction using the sun and stars. Weapons and Tools. Recognizing signs of land when lost at sea.
4. A first aid kit. One of the most important aspects of survival is one's health. Water is a key necessity. Also, the ability to limit open wounds or cuts because infection could zap one of strength and kill you. A complete first aid kit gives a person the ability to protect against small scrapes and bruises turning into a major medical emergency.
5. A fire starter kit. A flintlock (which is a piece of metal and flint, struck together to create a spark to ignite kindling) is another frontier camper tool which many people are now unfamiliar. One of the most important things for survival is building a fire. Nights even in tropical areas could plunge. Dampness from torrent rains could soak clothing and shelter so the need to be dry to avoid rot and disease is apparent. Otherwise, one would need a good supply of matches in order to start fires.
These five items are in the practical elements for survival. However, each person may have a different understanding of their own skill level or strategy for survival. Some may wish to have a sat-phone, or a flare gun to signal help. Some may wish to have rope in order to lash wood together for a better shelter. No matter the items, one needs a standard of common sense in order to survive.
Some considered Alpert's "test" to young John Locke a survival test.
In 1961 or 1962, Alpert came to Locke's foster home under the guise of evaluating a gifted child for his future education. Alpert presented a five-year-old Locke with a test involving six items. Alpert placed a compass on a table with five other items, asking Locke to identify which "already belong to him."
The items were a brass compass, a baseball glove, an old book whose cover bore the title, "Book of Laws" which Eko will tell Locke a story about the "Book of Law", i.e., the Old Testament, a vile of sand, a knife and A comic book, Mystery Tales, issue 40 from April 1956 (right before Locke's birth), bearing the subtitle, "What was the secret of the mysterious 'HIDDEN LAND!'"
A time-traveling Locke had previously given Richard a compass, a compass that Richard would return him to Locke years later, in 2007. Locke crashed on the island with a collection of hunting knives.
A young child may have taken the baseball glove or comic book. But Young John debated selecting a container of granules and the compass before settling upon a knife.
Disappointed, Richard collected the items and left, leaving a dejected Locke with his angry mother.
If Alpert's test was a survival test, then Locke in my estimation would have passed because a knife is a good tool. If Alpert's test was learn about Locke's true self, then the knife as a weapon could have been considered evil. But it also could have been symbolic to defend the island (though the vile of sand would have been a closer representation or connection to the island proper). Likewise, the bible could have represented being "good." The baseball glove and the comic book as being childish. And the compass representative of being able to find one's own way in the world (something Locke clearly did not do in his own life).
