Read the story below and answer as spontaneously and quickly as possible.

There are two neighboring islands. In the first one live two men: an uncivilized savage and a civilized man. On the other island, there are several people, among them a girl who is in love and has a relationship with the civilized man.

The girl wants to go to the opposite island to meet her lover. She asks the only boatman of the island how much he wants to take her there. The boatman says that he does not want money and he will take her to the other island if she is naked in the boat.

The girl is shocked… not knowing what to do she goes to the wise man of the island to ask for help. He listens to her story with attention and gives the following advice: “Do what your heart tells you, my child…” So the girl decides to accept the proposal of the boatman in order to meet her beloved man.

So, they go to the other island. But when they arrive, the savage is on the seafront and gets crazy at the sight of the naked woman so he rapes her… At the same moment, the civilized man comes and sees the scene. He goes mad and tells the girl that he does not want her anymore and she must leave immediately…

Evaluate the 5 characters of the story (savage, civilized man, girl, boatman, wise man) from the best to the worst, so that the number 1 is the character that you believe to be the best person in the story and the 5th is the worst of all.

Interpretation

Each character of the story represents a priority in your life:

Savage = how important sex is for you;

Civilized man = importance of other people’s opinion;

Girl = your need for an emotional relationship;

Boatman = your need for earning money;

Wise man = how much you rely on logic.


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This Post Has 226 Comments

  1. Anabella

    Wise man – gives good advice
    savage – just get what he wants
    boat man – good bargaining skill
    civilized man – makes choice
    girl – responsible for the foolish choice she has made

    the first reaction, if i was the girl, i whether kill the boat man or steal his boat lol

    1. estelle

      Anabella. The girl isn’t foolish. Clearly you’ve never been in love. You should try “empathy” and understand a chick instead of talking her down. Strongly dislike girls that do this to each other or another.. Love is love. Respect is respect.

    2. Lotta

      The wise man gave good advice, but the girl let her head rule her heart. I rate him a 1.
      The savage is just a savage no control over his body, much less his mind. I rate him a 5.
      The boatman is just an outside influence not to be listened too if you took the wise mans advice to listen to your heart. That man would be coming to my Island… I rate him a 4.
      The civilized man is too caught up in his own ego to recognize the sacrifice the girl did for him. I rate him a 4 also.
      The girl acted only on her emotions and didn’t listen at all to the logic of the wise man. I also rate her a 4.

      1. Lisa

        But she told the wise man what she had to do to get to the island ? The wise man encouraged her to do something stupid

    3. Nico

      Damn same!
      1. Wise Man
      2. Savage
      3. Boatman
      4. Rich guy
      5. Girl

  2. Skies

    1. The girl – she is only responsible for taking off her clothes and stepping on the boat in order to see her beloved, not how the savage reacted . 2. The wise man – he gave her advise that was based on her heart and her own choices. 3. The savage – his response was based on physical response and not on a moral judgement. He has no social concept of rape and while violent and terrible, it is possible it was what seemed natural for him. 4. The boatman – was manipulative for what seems to be his own pleasure in seeing her naked and perhaps an accomplice to rape if he was interested or knew what would happen once she arrived to the island. 5. The civilized man for rejecting the girl, not trusting the truth of his heart, not protecting her and judging her as less because she was raped.

    1. Alex

      I was the exact same. The savage also followed the wise mans advice in retrospect. The girl is completely innocent and the civilized man harshly rejected the girl who loved him so deeply. Well done

    2. alice

      Oh, I read it as the civilised man thought that she was cheating on him with another man because he didn’t know she was being raped.

  3. Golliat

    You’re all fucked up, older comments.

    I’ve personally interviewed the agents in the story and ordered them by the value of their testimonies:

    1. Wise – “I couldn’t have guessed the girl would be so fucktarded, I just let her make her own decision.”
    2. Civil man – “What the fuck?! You choose to come here naked just to see me? You’re fucking retarded, you need a father, not a lover.”
    3. Girl – “B-but L-LOVE and s-shit.”
    4. Boat – “I left all my fucks in my childhood.”
    5. Savage – “Uka, uka. I know she’s just like me because she looks human, I know I hurted her because of her screams and because a bear once did the same to me, but I don’t care. I don’t care for anyone or anything that isn’t myself because I find it difficult to take care of shit, like that time I fed a rabbit for two days and then I got hungry and ate it. It was easier than feeding him. It’s easier like this. It feels nice like this.”

  4. Jamie

    The civilized man- He didn’t understand what was happening. He sent her away because he thought she was having sex with another man.

    The “wise” man- He wasn’t wise, however he was more of a bystander than a leading character.

    The girl- It’s not her fault she got raped and its sad that something horrible happened. However, she’s not very smart.

    The savage- He raped her, he is evil. However if he had not been provoked it wouldn’t have happened. It’s his nature.

    The boat man- The boat man is greedy and selfish. He is the reason she was raped.

  5. Tina Harrison

    Answer 1 boatman. 2 savage. 3 girl. 4 wise man. 5 civilized man

  6. Riztea

    I think people missed the whole point of the test…it’s mainly about what you prioritize…that’s why the interpretation doesnt say you’re messed up mysogynist for chosing so and so first…

    My question is why does the civilized man represent importance of other people’s opinions?

    1. Lisa

      Cause he is civilised plus he didn’t want the girl after the savaged had her maybe ?

    2. Ivy

      Because the civilized man judged her quickly by what he saw and left her. It’s someone else’s opnion of what happened. It connects that judgment to other people’s opinions. So if we see him as more of the best/good person in the story, we sympathize and care about what he represents more — which is other people’s opnions.

  7. Sarah with an H

    Hola, que tal !? So, about that test :

    I) Da girl : she’s in love and would have done a lot of things to see herlover as we noticed. She seems to good morals since she asked the wise man for advice before attemping anything although she should have thought about the consequences.

    II) The wise man : I hesitated about that one. To me, his advice is a good advice one should follow BUT giving such an advice considering the situation is NOT wise!! Yes, the girl should have thought. I would say it still sound wise actually as I think it’s all about free will.

    III) The savage : well, he raped the girl. He’s a savage,he was born that way and thus doesn’t get the concept of rape, it’s natural for him. Yet it doesn’t excuse his behavior.

    IV) The boatman : he’s selfish, he knew what would have happened when they would be on the other island. Plus, he took advantage of the girl’s naivety.

    V) The civilized man : the absolute worst for me. He could have gone to the opposite island. He has no respect for his girlfriend and left her. He SHOULD have known she didn’t want this to happen. However, the worst thing to me is that he is civilized and he had to civilize and show good manners to the other man so that he would know about what to do and what not to do!! He’s a savage and the girl’s lover know that : NO excuse.

  8. alice

    1. Wise Man. He gave some pretty solid (if not a bit cliqued) advice free of charge so clearly he did nothing wrong.
    2. Civilised Man. From what he saw, the girl he was in love with was naked and having sex with another man which would make anybody angry, he was fair to turn her away with the context he had been given.
    3. Savage. He is literally like an animal with one simple need of fulfilling whatever the hell he wants, and has no idea of the concept of society or laws.
    4. The girl. Even though she simply needed to see her lover it was in all honesty pretty dumb of her to get on a boat naked with a stranger who could likely overpower her. I know I would rather swim across the water than do that.
    5. The Boatman. What a sick man. He’s the one that initiated the start of anything awkward. It’s just plain creepy to tell a girl something like that in the first place, knowing she’s already pretty vulnerable.

  9. Lisa

    1girl : silly and nieve but would do anything for love

    2.civilized man: even though he reacted without looking at the situation as it was but was upset about seeing someone touching the girl.

    3 savage: well he doesn’t know better and went with his own feelings though he did the act of rape.

    4wiseman: after the girl telling him what she was doing , if wise he should of had the insight that the girl was in danger and shouldn’t of given encouragement for her to consider it
    5boatman: he was doing it to belittle the girl and molesting her which put her in the position for her to be in further danger.

  10. Mo

    In my opinion,
    1. Girl
    2. Wiseman
    3. Boat men
    4. Savage
    5. Civilised man

  11. Ivy

    1 – Wise man. He gave her good advice and it’s not his fault that she didn’t take it. He didn’t do anything wrong in the story so I’d say he’s the best person of the story.
    2 – The girl. She was willing to sacrifice a lot just to see her lover, so I respect that. She didn’t do anything wrong, her choice just turned out to be a bad one and it’s okay to make bad decisions. They don’t define you.
    5 – Savage. What he did was wrong. He has no self control if he was taken from her “beauty/sex” so easily. What kind of person does it make you if you don’t have the values of being human? If you have no self control?
    4 – boatman. He tried to use her way too unfairly and played a big part in the consequence of her decision to accept his offer. He should not have tried to take advantage of her like that.
    3 – Civilized man. He’s just as bad as the boat guy and savage. He judged her too quickly and didn’t even give her a chance.

  12. Name (required)

    1 Wise man – indifferent…
    2 Boat Man – horny, shrewd…bored
    3 girl -Naive,blind
    4 savage. -Savage
    5 Man. – snot & snob

  13. YuKei

    Wise man – the only smart person in this story
    Girl – dumb as she may be she didn’t deserve any of that (seriously, just build your own float or something)
    Civilized man – wtf is wrong with you?! Not to mention, wtf do you live secluded on an island with one insane maniac for?! He your brother or something?
    Savage – well, he might be a piece of shit but it can be argued he “didn’t know any better”. Manners are learned, not inherited
    Boat man – you absolute piece of sh*t, I hope you got killed by the savage man. Like what, did you use your dick to row the boat? Does it act like a fucking motor for the boat when you’re excited? Was it fun to feel powerful over a defenceless girl? You absolute scumbag.

  14. John Teasley

    This story, slightly different, was given in a Merrill Lynch sales training class in the mid01970s. The guy who rowed the boat would only do so if she had sex with him. There was no ‘savage’ just a regular guy. The boyfriend sees her arriving with the guy and realizes the only way he would do it is if she had sex and tells her they are through, the other guy says ‘that’s OK you can come with me” and you are to rank them as to who you like best from 1 to 5. They were looking for people who ranked the boatman number 1 and surprising to me anyway most women in room liked him too.

  15. Raina

    Wohh just what I was searching for, appreciate it for putting up.

  16. Amy

    Girl – She was dumb and without guidance of whats right or not
    Civilized – A closed minded snob, probably he didnt love her as much as she did
    Boat – He took advantage of the situation, still not justified but I guess that happens in real life too
    Savage – savage doesnt mean he has to live up to his reputation, what he did is still a crime, his tagline doesnt mean anything to me.
    Wise man – Being the least important person, his advice could have made the most impact. Though he wasnt directly involved in anything, his advice wasnt any wise. He could have easily averted the situation if he was more keen or elaborate on his advice. Its better not to give any advice than give some whatsapp quotes advice. I value logic more than anything in my life and these answers are just inaccurate.

  17. Vicente451

    I’ve heard this story told with a slightly different spin regarding the ‘Wise Man’. The girl tells the wise man about the boatman’s request, and if he (the wise man) would instead help her row the boat over, and the wise man says ‘Do what you think is right, but I don’t want to get involved’. To me this greatly reduces his morality score.

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