Last True Hermit

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In the article “The Strange and Curious Tale of The Last True Hermit”, the author Michael Finkel portrays Christopher Knight as a seemingly harmless yet misconceived man that was forcibly disconnected from amenity and thrusted back into the world he once walked away from. To do so, Finkel uses dialogue, definition, and emotion to aid in defending his claim. Throughout his article, Finkel uses dialog between him and Knight to support the claim that the so called hermit, Christopher Knight, is benevolent, only doing what he thought he needed to do to survive: “‘My heart rate was soaring. It was not a comfortable act. I took no pleasure in it, none at all, and I wanted it over as quickly as possible’”. By sharing the thoughts and feelings Knight had while committing the crimes that kept him living, Finkel is intentionally shaping the readers opinions by pushing the them to sympathize with Knight and his situation. This, in turn, minimizes the felonies he committed in the eyes of the reader. In addition, these samples of limited dialog that were recorded of Knight …show more content…

Then I got worried. For I knew with the label hermit comes the idea of crazy’”. This statement made by Knight himself provokes the readers to question if he truly deserves such a label and instead is a sane man that sought out what he found most joy in, even though it seemed ludicrous to others. However, by the end of the article Knight humoredly embraces the name that was forced upon him by his peers saying things such as “‘my crazy hermit beard’”. By doing so, he is accepting his past and current situation in a lightning and teasing way. This imprints on the readers mind that although his actions and appearance may be reason to label him such, his attitude and sincerity do not in any way reflect the word that was pushed upon

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