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SHORT STORIES IN WORLD LITERATURE

SECTION- QOE04

TOPIC

ANALYSE AND WRITE A CRITICAL APPRECIATION ON

FRANZ KAFKA‟S “A HUNGER ARTIST”

SUBMITTED BY- SHIKHAR SINGH

11709076

SUBMITTED TO – MS. GARIMA SHARMA

FRANZ KAFKA
 A HUNGER ARTIST

By:- Franz Kafka

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Franz Kafka was born on 3 July 1883 and died on 3 June 1924. He was a German speaking
Unconventional novelist and short-story writer, widely regarded as one of the major figures of
20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of practicality and realism.

It typically features isolated characters facing bizarre or surrealistic difficulties and

incomprehensible socio-administrative powers.

Themes that kafka comes across while writing stories are - isolation, existential anxiety, guilt,
and irrationality.

Kafka finished none of his full-length novels and burned most of his work. Some of Kafka's
books are influenced by the expressionist movement, though the majority of his fictional output
was associated with the new modernist genre. Kafka also touches on the theme of human conflict
with system of government.

In his early years as a writer, he was influenced by von Kleist, whom he considered closer than
his own family. Whose work he described in a letter to Bauer as scary.

INTRODUCTION

“A HUNGER ARTIST”

This short story is written by a well-known short-story writer FRANZ KAFKA.

A hunger artist is a professional who fasts in a cage. People think he cheats by sneaking food; his
manager limits his fasting to forty days even though the hunger artist believes he can last longer
and he remains unsatisfied, even when the public leaves his performances happily.

From day to day while the fasting continued, participation increased. Everyone wanted to see the
hunger artist at least daily. During the 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

He goes on European tour to boost interest in the watchers but fails to do so. He, then, hires
himself out to a circus. However, people only watch him because he is near the animals, not
because they are interested in him. He remains ignored until one day an overseer asks him if he
is still fasting. The hunger artist asks for forgiveness and explains that people should not admire
his fasting; he simply could never find any food he liked, but if he had, he would have eaten it.
With that, he dies.

The circus replaces him in his cage with a panther. Everyone is fascinated by the vitality of the
panther, and they never want to move away.

THEMES USED IN “ A HUNGER ARTIST”

“A Hunger Artist” explores themes of –

1. Self-hatred

2. Inadequacy

3. Alienation.

4. Suffering is an art

5. Dependent on the audience

 PLOT ANALYSIS

“A HUNGER ARTIST”

The story starts with a saying that in earlier times the hunger artist captured the attention of the
entire city but the interest declined over the years.

The hunger artist who was a professional who did fasting in a cage for days and months . In
years past, the whole town bought tickets and watched the skinny hunger artist in his bare cage.
Permanent watchers, usually slaughters, are assigned to ensure the hunger artist does not cheat
and sneak food. However, the hunger artist’s code of honor prohibits him from ever doing this.
The watchers often intentionally ignored him to give him a chance to eat. This practice annoyed
the hunger artist and made his fast more painful.

The hunger artist preferred the watchers who stood close to him. He enjoyed talking with the
watchers through the night and proving he has nothing edible in his cage. He got happy when, in
the morning, they are fed a hearty breakfast at his expense. Some people suspected that the
breakfast is an attempt to bribe the watchers, because no one can watch the hunger artist all the
time, so only the hunger artist himself knows for sure that he was fasting. The hunger artist was
never satisfied, though, largely because he knows that fasting is very easy.

His manager puts a limit on his fasting to 40 days. After 40 days, two young ladies escort the
hunger artist out of his cage to a special meal , but he was angry at the situation because he
didn’t wanted to stop fasting as it was easy for him and because of fasting he became famous ,
every one started to know him. The manager then grabbed the hunger artist’s waist to reveal the
effects of fasting, shakes him up a little.. The manager tried to feed the hunger artist some food
but he disagreed and didn’t ate it. The hunger artist always remained dissatisfied but the audience
always left satisfied.

The hunger artist continued his fast over the years, but he remained troubled and have some or
the other difficulties. When audience tried to tell the hunger artist that his fasting is the cause of
his sadness, he shakes his cage wildly. The manager lied to the audience about the reason that
cause sadness to the artist. After this “misrepresentation of the truth,” the hunger artist collapsed
on his grass bed and the audience can again look closely at him. Suddenly, the audience
abandons the hunger artist for other attractions.

After the audience abandons the artist, the manager launched a European tour, but he cannot stir
up any interest. There were very few professional options, the hunger artist got rid of the
manager and signed a contract with a circus. The circus was very happy to sign a famous hunger
artist, especially since he had not lost his fasting powers over the years. The hunger artist made
sure that his cage is positioned on the outside of the ring, near the animals. This way the
audience saw his cage as they pass by to see the animals but they didn’t see the hunger artist for
too long.

In circus also the hunger artist saw that audience were getting entertained by seeing the animals
and not the artist. Due to this he got disheartened. The hunger artist often thought that things
might get better if he was not next to the animals , it made it too easy for audience to choose
between him and the animals. Over time, the audience simply passed his cage without paying
much attention to him because they didn’t understood the art of fasting.

After some time an overseer asked the artist if he was still fasting. It made him disheartened.
The hunger artist asked everyone to forgive him, and said that , though he always wanted people
to admire his fasting, but now they should not. He had to fast, because he could never find any
food he liked. With this explanation, the hunger artist died. The circus buried him and placed a
panther in the cage. Everyone liked seeing the lively, free panther.

THEMATIC ANALYSIS

“A Hunger Artist” explores themes of –

1. Self-hatred – The hunger artist hated himself as he couldn’t win the trust of the people for so
many years. He tried every way to show and tell people that fasting is an art but the people
doubted if he is eating something from somewhere. Later audience started ignoring the artist
which made him very angry and he started hating himself. He got disheartened for a number of
times due to the ignorant behavior of the audience and general public.

2. Inadequacy - The hunger artist faced a lot of problem during his period of fast. There was
severe lack of quality in the art he possessed. He was an hunger artist but his art lacked the
quality everyone was looking for. People never trusted him , they just saw him as an entertainer.
He was just a piece of laughing stock for people and no one actually wanted to talk about him.
He had problems with life which he couldn’t deal with.

3. Alienation - The hunger artist did his fasting by staying in a isolated cage , by distancing
himself with others. When audience gather to see him he never felt isolated or ignored but, when
there was no one to see the artist he felt isolated in a cage. He got detached with his family due
this profession.

4. Suffering is an art - The hunger artist thought that suffering is an art. But in reality suffering
is not an art. During the period of fasting he went through a lot of pain , distress and hardships.
Lack of trust from audience, ignorance, all made him suffer and gave him a lot of pain.

5. Dependent on the audience - The hunger artist was all dependent on the audience. He wanted
the attention of the audience on the streets as well as in the circus. At the beginning of is fast
everyone saw him and appreciated him but after a long time people lost interest in the hunger
artist as fasting is not a art , it is giving pain to self. He couldn’t take it when people passed just
by looking at him as he is nothing.

CHARACTER ANALYSIS

“THE HUNGER ARTIST”

The hunger artist is the protagonist (central character) of the story. The hunger artist took a
profession of fasting in a cage for a long time. He communicated the audience that fasting is an
art and he is the hunger artist who would entertain them through fasting. He always wanted
attention and was dependent on the audience but, internally he always wanted to feel superior
from the audience and wanted them to cheer him and understand him. The hunger artist was in a
lot of pain and often he felt disheartened and frustrated because the audience didn’t understood
his art and most of them ignored him and didn’t gave him the attention he wanted. The hunger
artist suffered lot of pain due to his fasting. When he went to the circus , he was again ignored by
the audience who came there. The hunger artist wanted people to forgive him and told them that
he always wanted people to admire him. The hunger artist also told the audience that, fasting was
easy for him, and if he found anything good or anything he liked to eat , he would eat it. But
unfortunately he never found anything good to eat and then he died.

„AUDIENCE”

In the starting audience got fascinated by seeing the hunger artist fast. They were attracted to the
suffering the hunger artist was going through. The audience was there to give attention to the
hunger artist but they couldn’t give him attention for long as they never understood the art of
fasting. Audience always thought that the hunger artist cheats with them and eats something
when no one is around. This doubt made the audience loose the interest they had in hunger artist.

“MANAGER”

The manager saw the fasting of the hunger artist. He kept a look on the hunger artist if he is
eating something or not. He managed everything related to hunger artist. He imposed a 40 days
limit on the fasting of the hunger artist. Once, he grabbed the artist from his waist and humiliated
him in front of the audience. The manager tries to feed the artist but the artist disagreed as
always. The manager also lied to the audience that fasting does cause sadness and that the hunger
artist can barely endure 40 days. But it was proven wrong by the hunger artist.

STYLISTIC ANALYSIS

The style used by the author FRANZ KAFKA in the story “A HUNGER ARTIST” is “THIRD
PERSON PERSPECTIVE” that means the author or the narrator is a abstract voice and not a
character in the story. The author wrote the story from third person perspective.
We can also see that the author is more inclined towards the hunger artist in his story and talks
about the hunger artist every now and then. This shows another type of style which is from
“THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE HUNGER ARTIST”.

CONCLUSION

The story is about a man who is fasting in a cage irrespective of the pain it is causing him. The
hunger artist is a kind of person who wants to feel superior than everyone who sees him and want
them to understand the art of fasting. The audience never understood his art because they never
trusted him and thought he is cheating.

His manager also tried to feed him but he never ate the food. His manager also lied to people
about the lack of endurance in the hunger artist. The manager always kept an eye on the artist
and managed all his money affairs. He also went to a circus to showcase his art to people.

We can see that the artist needed attention for audience and from the audience in the circus, and
if he didn’t got any attention he felt disheartened. This shows that the artist was just hungry for
attention and because of that he went thought fasting which was very painful for him.

According to me people should never go for materialistic things , they should always make a
goal for them self that is attainable and which is practical or realistic in nature.