This work was an attempt at untangling the messiness of the romantic ideal of hermitage. In it I am referencing two famous/infamous hermits. Henry David Thoreau and Ted Kaczynski. Both men moved to the woods, built cabins, and lived hermitted lives. Both men approached the problematics of the culture they had moved away from (even if incompletely). One man penned what would become literary staples, the other mailed nail bombs to targets he perceived as valuable politically and theatrically. Both achieved notable levels of notoriety. The question I was left with was, what impact did each man leave? What were they able to accomplish beyond their own hermitage? How does change occur in the world, and how are our individual actions, grand gestures, and musing received, and what impact do they have?
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