48 pages • 1 hour read
Michael FinkelThe Stranger in the Woods
Nonfiction | Biography | Adult | Published in 2017A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 17-20Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapters 17-18 Summary
Knight’s main preoccupation was silently watching nature, which Finkel relates to the ancient Chinese concept of wu wei or “non-doing.” Aside from some belief in multiple unnamed gods, Knight followed the teachings of Stoicism, which advocated that freedom comes “not by fulfilling all desires, but by eliminating desire” (116). He rarely encountered predators, and the hermit never considered a pet in case he was forced to eat it. Some of the wonders available to him included a large shelf mushroom at his campsite, natural groves, beach-like sandbanks, the northern lights, firefly lights in July, and a dip in North Pond during a late-summer heatwave.
Benefits of a disconnected life include heightened hearing and enhanced memory. A dozen studies note that evolution forces the body to respond to any noise or distraction, making calm spaces like the Knight campsite ideal for human development. A Chiba University study finds that even a 15-minute walk in the woods decreases stress hormone levels, blood pressure, and heart rate. Imke Kirste of Duke University states that 2 hours of complete silence per day promotes brain functions related to memory.
Winter preparation was a key part of Knight’s survival strategy. He would accelerate his nightly raids before November to stockpile on clothing, sleeping bags, nonperishable foods, and propane tanks. He also grew out his beard and gained weight. Dry feet were more important than warm feet.
Once snowfall came, Knight stayed almost exclusively in his campsite. After night fell, he would “cocoon himself in multiple layers of sleeping bags and cinch a tie-down strap near his feet to prevent the covers from slipping off” (118). However, he stayed awake to avoid sleeping to death and kept track of the temperature using three thermometers. Around two in the morning, he would melt snow using the propane tanks, air out his blankets, and walk around for circulation.
Chapter 19 Summary
If there is anything that Knight was particularly concerned about, it is the idea that he is crazy. While comfortable with therapy, he fears medications. Finkel argues that Knight is one of the few sane people left as he didn’t succumb to a life of perpetual work and consumption: “What did Knight do for a living? He lived for a living” (122).
A forensic psychologist said that Knight is competent but suggests that he may have the following conditions: Asperger’s disorder, depression, and possible schizoid personality disorder. Asperger’s, a form of autism, is a popular diagnosis for innovative introverts like Michelangelo, Edgar Allan Poe, and Bill Gates. Knight’s decision to leave the modern world may be an extreme example of an autistic person seeking respite from an endless assault of sensory information, and Knight exhibits autistic traits, such as limited eye contact. Others believe that Knight’s planning abilities would disqualify him, and autistic people generally do not steal and have at least one person they want to be around. Out of six experts who studied the Knight case, none could confirm an autism diagnosis, and Knight dismisses Asperger’s syndrome as a label he can’t do anything about.
Jill Hooley of Harvard University suggests that Knight’s behavior aligns with schizoid personality disorder, which is different from schizophrenia. Those with the disorder are solitary and logic-driven but have zero interest in others and ignore social rules.
Chapter 20 Summary
About 80% of North Pond residents do not believe Knight’s story. He is clean in comparison to the smelly materials at the campsite, and he must have a place to stay during the freezing winters, especially the Great Ice Storm of 1998. There is a nearby family that also have Knight as a last name who could have harbored him. The residents’ disbelief is intense as, “His story [is] both true and unbelievable at the same time, an unsettling merger” (131).
The residents’ suspicions may be because few people ever spend significant time by themselves. God’s reason for creating Eve was so that Adam would not be alone, and the doctrinal Christian leaders of the 1700s eventually saw hermits as dangerously free-minded. Most North Pond residents couldn’t think of a time when they went for more than a few hours without any communication, and Finkel himself only spent three days alone on a solo wilderness trip.
Knight denies having outside help or knowing about the other Knight family. In fact, the Great Ice Storm was beneficial, as the temperature wasn’t life threatening and the ice masked footprints. The suffering he felt during bad storms was real as his body ate away at him. Occasionally a memory would shake his resolve—news of a snow day for his high school or a moment with his sister—yet he remained willing to die in the woods.
Chapters 17-20 Analysis
Finkel shifts focus from a chronological narrative to open-ended discussion about Knight’s sensory experiences, beliefs, and psychological mindset. The forest has a different soundtrack to civilization: Spring chickens, summer songbirds, and autumn deer stepping on leaves. The powerboats he hears are a reminder that the normal world remains nearby. Still, the heightened hearing isn’t always beneficial, as Knight recalls overwhelming storms and fearsome thunder.
Knight’s family raised him as a Christian, but his nonobservance during his forest years may not be surprising. Unorthodox beliefs could draw unnecessary backlash in the small town of Albion, and Finkel mentions how Christian leaders eventually discouraged hermit practices to limit the spread of unorthodox ideas. Stoicism’s focus on humility, leisure, and rationalism makes more sense for Knight, but he is not completely adverse to Christianity. He prays during -20°F weather in a self-described “no atheists in a foxhole” moment (116), and the reader later learns that he listens to Bible studies from a former classmate.
Finkel discusses the various psychological conditions that may motivate Knight’s actions while remaining respectful to his subject. Knight again defies simple characterizations, as even leaders from the Autism Research Institute and the Cleveland Clinic could not agree on a diagnosis. The only clinical diagnosis that Finkel does not go in depth about in Chapter 19 is depression. While Knight does feel excessive guilt during his raids, other symptoms such as weight loss, inability to concentrate, and suicidal thoughts only arise after he’s forced back into society, suggesting he’s depressed.
Many of the subjects in these chapters revolve around survival strategies for the winter. Although winter was his favorite season—the leafless trees remind him of Victorian literature—this season is less quiet hibernation and more sleepless struggle. Knight’s story seems to defy belief to the Little Pond residents who endured the same winters, which contrasts with the authorities who never question his veracity. There is something about Knight that is trustworthy in person that others who only know him from news reports may not see.
While describing Knight’s winter experiences, Finkel notes that Knight did have contingencies in place should he need to leave: A buried container of supplies if he needed to switch to a new site and a whistle if he was near death. Knight resolved never to use these, which foreshadows his suicidal intent later in the book.
