Kafka hunger artist. A Hunger Artist Kafka’s Parable Summary & Analysis 2022-10-12
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"The Hunger Artist" by Franz Kafka is a short story that tells the tale of a man who is famous for his ability to fast for extended periods of time. The hunger artist, as he is known, is constantly on display in a cage, where he fasts for the entertainment of the public. Despite his fame and the attention he receives, the hunger artist is deeply unhappy and feels misunderstood by the people who come to watch him.
The story begins by describing the hunger artist's popularity and how he is constantly on tour, traveling from one city to the next. Despite the adoration he receives from the public, the hunger artist is deeply unhappy and feels that he is constantly being misunderstood. He feels that no one truly understands the depth of his fasting and the sacrifices he has made for his art.
As the story progresses, it becomes clear that the hunger artist's fasting is not driven by any spiritual or religious motivation, but rather by a deep sense of dissatisfaction with his own life. He is not able to find fulfillment or meaning in anything else, and so he turns to fasting as a way to feel a sense of purpose and accomplishment.
Despite the hunger artist's dedication to his craft, he eventually becomes old and weak, and his ability to fast for long periods of time begins to wane. The public becomes less interested in him and his performances, and he is eventually replaced by a young and beautiful woman who is able to fast for even longer periods of time. The hunger artist is heartbroken and feels that he has been completely forgotten and discarded by the public.
In the end, the hunger artist dies alone in his cage, still fasting but with no one to witness or appreciate his dedication to his art. Kafka's "The Hunger Artist" is a poignant and thought-provoking tale that explores the meaning of success and fulfillment in a society that is often more interested in surface-level appearances than genuine substance. It serves as a cautionary tale about the dangers of seeking validation and meaning from external sources rather than finding it within oneself.
Kafka's "A Hunger Artist" Analysis
Though many of Kafka's works, including his novels, were not published until after his death, "A Hunger Artist" was published during his lifetime. He had to put up with all that, and in the course of time had got used to it, but his inner dissatisfaction always rankled, and never yet, after any term of fasting—this must be granted to his credit—had he left the cage of his own free will. Kafka however, did not always follow society. That seemed to be located somewhere or other in its teeth, and its joy in living came with such strong passion from its throat that it was not easy for spectators to keep watching. Kafka use of his perception of reality in his works creates another world for the reader, and helps them understand the meaning of the piece differently.
Many different religions throughout the world have ascetic branches, such as cloistered Christian monks and nuns who take a vow of silence, or Buddhist monks and nuns who try to separate themselves as far as possible from the secular world. That said, these interactions are still defined by his desire to prove the superiority of his fasting abilities—even when he gets the desired attention, the hunger artist is still constantly self-conscious about how he is perceived. The story is often read as an allegory, or a story that uses symbolism to reveal a hidden meaning of religious or political importance. She had a hard time understanding why he wanted to be a writer and discouraged him from pursuing his dreams, mainly because choosing careers in his time period was based on how much money someone could make instead of what they want to do. He is embarrassed and humiliated at any suggestion that his fast may not be pure, that he could be sneaking food when no one is watching.
Despite such precautions, many, including some of the watchers themselves, were convinced the hunger artist cheated. These warders can hardly contain their hunger as they devour their breakfasts, thus helping the hunger artist demonstrate his superior ability to fast. The impresario has a crafty solution to these angry outbursts. The story is about a hunger artist in a circus who sits in a cage and fasts for weeks on end. The hunger artist is less an individual than an archetype a universal figure , and his story of struggle, unfulfilled goals, and death is a warning for all mankind to let go of pride or face a life always lacking in satisfaction and contentment.
A Hunger Artist by Franz Kafka : Franz Kafka : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
The small table with the number of days the fasting had lasted, which early on had been carefully renewed every day, remained unchanged for a long time, for after the first weeks the staff grew tired of even this small task. By fasting, the hunger artist attempts to step outside his skin, an act associated both with death and divinity. For the last time the impresario hurried him over half Europe to discover whether the old interest might still survive here and there; all in vain; everywhere, as if by secret agreement, a positive revulsion from professional fasting was in evidence. It was as if a secret agreement against the fasting performances had really developed everywhere. One of the core elements of capitalism is supply and demand—providing a product to match how much it is desired by society. His body is a prison to him, and his effort to break out of the prison is actually a death wish.
With great difficulty he repressed mentioning this only out of consideration for the women. Once the large crowds had passed, the late-comers would arrive, and although there was no longer anything preventing these people from sticking around for as long as they wanted, they rushed past with long strides, almost without a sideways glance, to get to the animals in time. The notion of the starving artist fit with the ideals of the Romantic movement of the late 1700s and early 1800s. In this respect, there were, of course, small differences among different towns and among different countries, but as a rule it was true that forty days was the maximum length of time. Then a toast was proposed to the public, which was supposedly whispered to the impresario by the hunger artist, the orchestra confirmed everything with a great fanfare, people dispersed, and no one had the right to be dissatisfied with the event, no one except the hunger artist—he was always the only one. Because he can find no personal satisfaction without the validation of others, he dies having had no satisfaction at all.
If a spectator, observing his apparent melancholy, tried to console him, he would erupt in fury, shaking the bars of his cage. Ultimately, the story illustrates the martyrdom of artists and saints alike, doomed to be misunderstood, unappreciated, and isolated from society. Sometimes there were nightly groups of watchers who carried out their vigil very laxly, deliberately sitting together in a distant corner and putting all their attention into playing cards there, clearly intending to allow the hunger artist a small refreshment, which, according to their way of thinking, he could get from some secret supplies. And they buried the hunger artist along with the straw. Nihilism is an extremely pessimistic view that life has no purpose or meaning. In this respect, there were, of course, small differences among different towns and among different countries, but as a rule it was true that forty days was the maximum length of time. As part of the act, several people stand guard at his cage every night to ensure that he isn't cheating, which angers him.
What was the hunger artist to do now? But the hunger artist is rarely happy, because no one really respects or truly understands his art. Entertainment, then, takes precedence over art. Finally the cage caught the attention of a supervisor, and he asked the attendant why they had left this perfectly useful cage standing here unused with rotting straw inside. In this way, the impresario suggested the hunger artist's sadness and poor physique was caused by fasting, when, in the hunger artist's view, he was depressed because of the premature cessation of his fasts. Spectators crowded about the panther's cage because the panther, who was always brought the food he liked, took so much joy in life. It was all futile. Everyone wanted to see the hunger artist at least daily.
Back then the hunger artist captured the attention of the entire city. And he looked up into the eyes of these women, apparently so friendly but in reality so cruel, and shook his excessively heavy head on his feeble neck. He would never dream of cheating because the whole point of the fast is to maintain its integrity. Why should he be cheated of the fame he would get for fasting longer, for being not only the record hunger artist of all time, which presumably he was already, but for beating his own record by a performance beyond human imagination, since he felt that there were no limits to his capacity for fasting? Nobody knew, until one man, with the help of the table with the number on it, remembered the hunger artist. And this view from a distance still remained his most beautiful moment. They don't care whether the artist's fast is real or an illusion, as long as it draws a crowd.
Two young ladies lead the hunger artist, against his will, to a small meal laid out on a table. When asked why, the artist delivers his last words, like a punch line to a long-running joke: ''Because I couldn't find the food I liked. He then tells Georg that he has ignored his friend since he moved to Russia, making Georg feel guilty. It tells the tragic tale of the hunger artist, a man so utterly dedicated to fasting that he denies himself anything else in life. The longest period of fasting was fixed by his impresario at forty days, beyond that term he was not allowed to go, not even in great cities, and there was good reason for it, too. This was nothing but a formality, instigated to reassure the masses, for the initiates knew well enough that during his fast the artist would never in any circumstances, not even under forcible compulsion, swallow the smallest morsel of food; the honor of his profession forbade it.
