The Man Who Walked Away From Society & Lost Himself

In this post Nathan Palmer discusses how a man isolated in the woods for 27 years lost himself and how the self is socially constructed through interaction.

In 1986 Christopher Knight walked away from society. He turned over the engine in his white Subaru Brat and drove to the forests of central Maine without a plan, a map, or even basic camping gear. He told no one where he was going and did everything he could to cover his tracks. He was 20 years old.

Knight eventually found a concealed spot on the forest floor to set up camp near the shores of North Pond. He slept in a nylon tent and never once lit a fire, fearing it would give away his location. He tried surviving on road kill and what he could forage, but it wasn’t enough. Knight burglarized near by homes, cabins, and businesses for all his food, clothing, and camping gear needs. He estimates that he victimized about 40 properties a year. When the food ran out or when the wet windy brutally cold Maine winters brought him inches from death, he meditated.

It all came to end in 2013 when Knight was captured while burglarizing the Pine Tree summer camp, near the shoreline of North Pond. The man who had been willing to freeze to death to stay outside of society would be forced back into it. In the 27 years he spent in the forest, he had only once come across another human. It was a hiker. He said, “hi.”

When asked by a reporter how living in solitude affected him, Knight said something profoundly sociological.

• “I did examine myself,” he said. “Solitude did increase my perception. But here’s the tricky thing—when I applied my increased perception to myself, I lost my identity. With no audience, no one to perform for, I was just there. There was no need to define myself; I became irrelevant…”[1]

How could Knight lose his identity to solitude? If the self is something that can be lost, then by inference the self is something we have to acquire in the first place. Where do we get our sense of self from?

How Do We Find Our Selves?

Sociologists argue that you only discover yourself by interacting with others (Cooley 1902; Mead 1934; Goffman 1959). Through interaction we first learn that others see us (i.e. I have a name. I am different from others). Then we learn how others see us (i.e. I’m a boy) and what behaviors they expect from a person like us (i.e. I should play with trucks and not dolls).

But you are not a robot programed by social interaction. Each of us has an inner sense of self where we process the messages others give us. We can internalize those messages (i.e. dolls are stupid), we can adapt them (i.e. dolls are cool when they ride in trucks), we can innovate on them (i.e. dolls and trucks are cool), or we can resist them (i.e. trucks suck, dolls rule).

You might be tempted to think that your inner self is the real you, separate from social interaction. I think therefore I am, in other words. However, it is impossible to think without using language, imagery, and other symbols. Where did you learn what words mean? Where did you learn how to feel about an image or color or shape or size or any other visual attribute? You learned what these symbols mean through repeated interactions with others. Even alone in your head, society and culture are present.

What Knight Lost

As a sociologist it makes sense that Knight felt he, “lost his identity.” For nearly three decades he had almost no human interaction. “With no audience, no one to perform for, I was just there. There was no need to define myself; I became irrelevant.”

After decades of disuse, Knight struggled to regain his social interaction skills and he knew it. He told reporter Michael Finkel, that he only agreed to be interviewed, “because he was locked in jail and needed practice interacting with others.” During interviews Knight reportedly avoided eye contact stating, “I’m not used to seeing people’s faces. There’s too much information there… Too much, too fast.”

Finkel reported that during interviews Knight’s speech, “seemed candid and blunt, unfiltered by the safety net of social niceties.” Sociologically this is unsurprising. It is only through interaction that we learn to filter our inner selves. “Social niceties” are nothing more than the social norms for interaction.

Knight never truly left society. He survived only by repeatedly raiding it for resources. The police found stockpiles of pilfered magazines and books around his campsite. He reportedly enjoyed listening to music, the news, and the audio portion of television shows on a radio. Everyone Loves Raymond was a favorite.

Knight’s story is not one of life outside of society, but life without social interaction. In losing his identity, Knight provides evidence that the self is a product of the social world and that when we can’t see our reflection in the eyes of others, we lose a part of our selves.

Dig Deeper:

1. Describe in your own words what the self is according to sociologists.
2. If our sense of self comes from interactions with others, does that mean that we are not individuals?
3. Knight said that there was “too much information” coming from people’s faces. What do you think he means? What kinds of information do we communicate to one another with our faces?
4. Sociologists argue that we do not always internalize (i.e. accept uncritically) the messages others give us during interactions. We can also adapt, innovate, or resist those messages. Give an example (not used in this essay) of a cultural message that someone could receive through social interaction and how it could be adapted, innovated on, or resisted.

References:

• Cooley, C. H. (1902) Human Nature and Conduct. Scribner’s, New York.
• Goffman, E. (1959) The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. Doubleday, Garden City, NY.
• Mead, G. H. (1934) Mind, Self and Society. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.