Hunger Artist Kafka Essay

The Separation of Artist from Society in A Hunger Artist Frank Kafka’s A Hunger Artist is a dark and ironic short story about a man who spends his days fasting to use his dissatisfaction as a form of art. A prominent theme expressed throughout A Hunger Artist is the separation of artists from the rest of society. By being so devoted to his “art,” the hunger artist gave up comfort, relationships, and food, all of which are crucial to survival. This theme can be seen through the symbols of the narrator’s

important than what was given up; hunger is a form of sacrifice. The Hunger Artist by Franz Kafka, is an interesting short story that describes a man’s dark and depressing life. In this man’s life he is a hunger artist who starves himself to make small amounts of money and to gain attention from his audiences. The hunger artist was a man who was separated from society by his fasting and suffered from the harmful effects of his pride and confusion. The Hunger Artist is a short story that tells about

"A Hunger Artist" by Franz Kafka, in length of more than five thousand words printed in a strange tone, tells a fantastic uninhibited but full of real meaning story. The protagonist of "A Hunger Artist" was caged to show hunger for a living, attracting a large audience. Gradually, he gained the honor for his hunger performance. He never voluntarily left the cage, since others not giving him the opportunity to become "unprecedented great hunger artist" made him feel deeply distressed. Humanity, through

theme in literature. However, I will just be examining a few the first one being The Hunger Artist by Franz Kafka. The Hunger Artist tells a story of a man that fast for days on end, and people come to watch him because of it. The artist would fast for forty days, and still want to fast longer. What makes this story grotesque is this artist thinking towards his health and fasting. It doesn’t seem that this artist particularly cares about his health, and doesn’t seem to have a need for food. One of

allusion. In the story “A Hunger Artist”, by Franz Kafka, uses biblical allusions to further the meaning of his short story. This is evident through Kafka’s attempt to illustrate suffering by the allusion of his main character, the hunger artist, to the ultimate sufferer, Jesus Christ. “The longest period of fasting was fixed by his impresario at forty days, beyond that term he was not allowed to go” (Kafka 335). Why stop after forty days? Why not continue? The hunger artist himself repeatedly states

well as his rather short-lived adulthood, he strove to receive positive attention and approval from his siblings, peers, and especially his parents. In fact, Kafka later wrote to his father, in, arguably, his most influential piece of literature, “Letter to My Father,” that the entirety of “My writing was all about you [Kafka’s father]” (Kafka 19). Hermann Kafka’s excessively large presence and constant abuse towards his son contributed greatly to influence Kafka’s writing, and much has been said about

The author depicts the hunger artist as a tragic figure, whose art of fasting, which was once widely appreciated by the world, became totally neglected and forgotten. For the hunger artist whose only joy and satisfaction in life is the excitement and admiration of the spectators, when that excitement turns into disgust and the admiration turns into suspicion, so did the satisfaction the artist felt at the end of each fasting performance. Alas, he became increasingly despondent and furious at the

The hunger artist is present as separate from his audience because of his artistry and this is further enhanced by the fact that he has chosen to seclude himself within a cage during his fasting periods. This physical separation between him and society displays the self-imposed alienation he feels is necessary to craft. This physical separation allows him to dive deeper into his crat and his purist for success while at the same time distancing him more from audience and their ability to understand

Christ: A Better Hunger Artist The Christ figure is a prominent archetype found in modern literature. From Simon in “The Lord of the Flies” to Gandalf in “The Lord of the Rings,” characters who are true in spirit and suffer for it are all too common. In Kafka’s short story “A Hunger Artist,” this archetype emerges again but with a twist. The unnamed protagonist is an archetypal Christ-figure whose failure to impact his surroundings serves as an allegory to modern society’s diminishing spirituality

the Hunger Artist, fasts for a living. The Hunger Artist, who identifies himself as only a professional faster, travels with his “manager” known as Impresario, to small European villages. Once there, the two put on a show. The show consisted of the hunger artist being locked in a cage for up to forty days without any food. People would come and watch him perform different things as he starved. For the Impresario, it was only a show where he saw the chance for self gain. However, for the Hunger Artist