The Hunger Artist

Symbolism plays an important part in this story. The ebony clock is particularly significant “there stood against the Western wall, a gigantic clock of ebony.” Poe placed the clock against the western wall for a symbolic purpose. The sun rises in the East and sets in the West. The clock is nearer to the setting sun. The placement of the clock indicates an association with an ending. A sunset indicates the ending of a day, while the ebony color of the clock suggests its relationship with darkness and death. The characters react to the sounding of the clock’s chimes in a nervous fashion. “…While the chimes of the clock yet rang, it was observed that the giddiest grew pale.” Poe uses this clock to remind the characters that they have lived through another hour to build up the time of revelation. At each strike of the clock the characters stop everything as if they are waiting for the "Red Death" to come for them at any minute. At twelve, the stranger dressed as the "Red Death" appears. This time everyone begins to fear death. The darkness of the rooms causes shadows to form by the fires' light to increase suspense.

“The food began to bother me, my stomach felt upset, and I would not be able to hold the food down very long.”(135) This suggests that, the narrator’s own physical body is refusing to settle with the food possibly serves as a metaphor that like the narrator, the food too doesn’t allow itself to adjust to the environment, and revolve around certain forces controlling their actions. The influence of society made the protagonist endure severe deprivation of food, the fact that living under a society that expects the protagonist to have a job and earn money forces the protagonist to live under a “cycle of life.” This being, the author represents the protagonist as with the irony of life, where the protagonists needs to work to eat, but has no food therefore works harder to eat more but continues until his sense of thoughts and his rational skills have been altered “but my brain sank deeper in chaos” (79).

There is plenty of figurative language in “Black Boy” by Richard Wright. However, hunger is used lots of times metaphorically in this novel. In the beginning of the novel when Richards father leaves life is hard on them and their mother has to work two jobs but she still does not have enough money to support Richard and his brother so they would starve when she was out working. Richard had to experience this type of hunger that no one should ever have to experience, this hunger would be standing by his bedside at night. Later in the novel Richard experiences a different type of hunger a hunger that made him desire

Sacrifice is “an act of giving up something valued for the sake of something else.” -Anonymous. The Outsiders, by H.E Hinton is a book where Ponyboy and friends live life in a gang. You can see sacrifices being made in order for them to better the lives of each other. One theme evident in the novel is people make sacrifices for the things they care about.

This is evident when Li juxtaposes with Mao Zedong’s poster in a Chinese Government’s office, which represents that Mao watches over the Chinese citizens. Both texts show progression through the use of symbolism. In Animal Farm, the windmill represents progression that benefits all the animals. Likewise, in Mao’s Last Dancer, an arrow during Li’s performances symbolises progression. Accordingly, the symbols with characterisation describe a system that oppresses the characters throughout both

In his short story “The Hunger Artist,” Franz Kafka illustrates this prideful individual, who strives to starve himself to a disturbing and gruesome extent, losing his humanity. Kafka uses symbolism in order to fully create this idea of an individual’s, in this case the starving artist, estrangement from society.

The theme in “The Pit and the Pendulum” is death and hope. This is displayed in the poem when the narrator realizes the razor sharp pendulum that has been over him swaying from side to side is not an image, and is getting ready to kill him at any second. In the “Pit and the Pendulum” on page 276 it states, “It was the painted figure of Time as he is commonly represented, save that, in lieu of a scythe, he held what, at a casual glance, I supposed to be the pictured image of a huge pendulum, such as we see on antique clocks.” This means the whole time the narrator was in the dungeon he thought the pendulum was nothing but an image of time. When the rats bite through his restraints, he has a feeling of hope that he will escape and not die He feels the same thing

The giant clock also was symbol of horror in the story. "Its pendulum swung to and fro with a dull, heavy, monotonous clang." Every hour the clock

The audiences fascination with the Hunger artist's fasting is what the artist lived for. In the beginning of the story the hunger artist's desire for attention is illustrated when the narrator said " much more to his taste were the watchers who sat close up to the bars … He was quite happy at the prospect of spending a sleepless night with such watchers."(299) Even the guards who were appointed to watch over him were enough to quench the artist's thirst for attention. When the Hunger Artist was no longer a source of entertainment a circus hired him as a minor attraction. There the story says,

Kafka also uses the existential idea that man's fate is sometimes beyond man's control. In his stories, chance or destiny rules man's life. Gregor could not control his metamorphosis, just as he cannot control his "new" legs which "waved helplessly before his eyes" (1). The hunger artist's fate is to die of starvation, since as he says, "I have to fast, I can't help it" (8). Gregor dies; the artist dies. Their lack of control over their fates emphasizes man's helplessness and "forlornness," to use Sartre's term.

In the last decades interest in hunger artists has declined considerably. Whereas in earlier days there was good money to be earned putting on major productions of this sort under one’s own management, nowadays that is totally impossible. Those were different times. Back then the hunger artist captured the attention of the entire city. From day to day while the fasting lasted, participation increased. Everyone wanted to see the hunger artist at least daily. During the final days there were people with subscription tickets who sat all day in front of the small barred cage. And there were even viewing hours at night, their impact heightened by torchlight. On fine days the cage was dragged out into the open air, and then the hunger artist was put on display particularly for the children.

Symbolism of food: Food is used as a symbol of how Grete can no longer take care of Gregor to the full extent that she used to because she is preoccupied with her job. Kafka highlights how the unemployed are a burden on the working class.

Hunger by Hamsun Kunt is a monologue mainly related to the struggling life of an artist who is starving for meals but trying to establish his literary reputation. It is also considered as an autobiographical work of Norweign writer, who is intellectual, but wandering around in Christiana, Oslo trying to earn money to pay for his meals while keeping to maintain his dignity and purity of his artistic thoughts. Hunger of Hamsun shows how narrator is proud to be a human but failures in life humiliate his humanity. He struggles hard to earn his meals and stays hungry for days, and writing of philosophical thoughts and articles in this extreme poverty seems to be ridiculous. So it focuses on the effects of hunger on the physical conditions and psyche of a lonely man. Hunger is also a kind of protest work to the socially focused novels of nineteenth century. Hamsun sets his own code of chivalry and whatever money and clothes he gets, he gives those to needy and vagrant children and himself turns in stealing. Because of starvation and hunger his physical, mental and psychological health deteriorates, he suffers from a great financial and artistic crisis. Hunger disintegrates his ability to write and no one wants to publish his work except, a kind newspaper editor who occasionally gives him a little money. Sometimes, he has to live without food for one, two or more days. Though this unknown writer is starving with hunger but he is proud of himself and keeps his morale high. He feels that he is

In "A Hunger Artist," the main character’s lack of fulfillment causes him despair. He reacts to this disparity by starving himself, almost as if showing resistance to the outside world. He views himself as separate from everyone else, thus confining himself in a cage (Bedford 636).

Hunger is a term that is often defined as the physical feeling for the need to eat. However, the Hunger Artist in Kafka's A Hunger Artist places a different, more complex meaning to this word, making the Hunger Artist's name rather ironic. The hunger of the Hunger Artist is not for food. As described at the end of the essay, the Hunger Artist states that he was in fact never hungry, he just never found anything that he liked. So then, what does this man's hunger truly mean? What drives the Hunger Artist to fast for so long, if he is truly not hungry? The Hunger Artist salivates not for the food which he is teased with, nor does he even sneak food when he alone. The Hunger Artist has a