The Hunger Artist By Kafka

What is betrayal actually? How do we visualize it? In what particular ways do we see it? A wide range of literature has been dedicated to the phenomenon of betrayal demonstrated in different ways. In the course of this essay two works of literature will be analyzed having regard to the issue of betrayal revealed therein. The work of art to be analyzed first will be The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka. The Metamorphosis is a surreal story by Franz Kafka surrounding the tale of Gregor Samsa, who wakes up one day, reborn into a large insect. He wants to live a normal life, unfortunately, this is impossible because he cannot even get out of bed. Gregor transformation into an insect is a vivid metaphor for the alienation of humans from around the world. After losing a human form, the hero was beyond human existence. He is automatically deprived of the right to be a part of society.

Atticus shows that courage in standing up for justice and fair treatment is the right thing to do. Atticus goal was to help a black male named Tom Robinson who was accused of raping a white girl by the name of Mayella Ewell. Even though Mayella knew Tom Robinson was innocent she feared her father and made up a story so that she would be safe in the eye’s of others. In doing so Atticus is considered a “nigger lover” because he chooses to help a black male seek justice for a crime he didn’t commit. In chapter 3 Atticus states that, "You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... Until you climb into his skin and walk around in it" (To kill a Mockingbird).

Richard Elrey De Castro Professor Pejman Omidi English 101A Issue/Dialectical Essay October 9, 2014 Franz Kafka, in his the story he wrote The Hunger Artist, indicates that humans can never fulfill their desires. The story should not be seen literally but should be seen as a metaphoric message for the readers. It is explained in the story that the hunger artist is not fulfilling the nourishment that is needed for entertainment. The viewers want to catch the hunger artist cheating because they feel that this will fulfill their desire.

Being consistently troubled with anxiety, stress, and depression, Franz Kafka has become one of the most known jewish writers to be alive. Within his writings, he seems to express his own feelings hidden beneath his mask through the characters he has created. In these short stories, a reader senses the emotions of sadness, nervousness, and other non-content emotions being expressed through characters or certain situations. A major complication approaching readers in Kafka’s short stories is to understand every interpretation within the lines of certain choices of words. For example, the interpretation of his everyday life and the struggles within it show the reflections of his childhood, and/or relationships that he has had within the years. Through his short stories, Franz Kafka expresses his unfortunate life of mistreatment and depression through words that readers and interpret and comprehend.

In the story “The Metamorphosis”, written by Franz Kafka, Gregor’s family represents the causing factor that prompts Gregor to become a cockroach. Gregor’s family is a symbol of a repressive structure that inhibits Gregor’s every thought and action. When Gregor gets up in the morning to get ready for work and finds that he has been transformed into a cockroach, he ponders about how maybe he should just go in to work late and get fired, but then realizes that he cannot because “if [he] were not holding back because of [his] parents, [he] would have quit long ago” (Kafka 8). This quote displays how the family contains immense power over Gregor which causes him to turn into a cockroach that symbolizes that he has become alienated, has

  Existentialism is a philosophy dealing with man's aloneness in the universe. Either there is no God or else God stands apart from man, leaving him free will to make his own choices. From this basic idea of man being alone in an uncertain and purposeless world, many related ideas have developed. One great worry of existentialist writers is that life is becoming too complicated and too impersonal. People become more and more involved with their work, which is taking them away from their friends, family, and culture. However, these provide the only "meaning" that life could possibly have. One author prominently known for his work with existential ideas was Franz

Franz Kafka’s, The Metamorphosis, is a novella about Gregor Samsa, a man who devotes everything to fulfilling the needs of his family. Kafka’s existentialist perspective on the meaning of life is illustrated through the use of the protagonist of Gregor Samsa. Existentialism is a philosophy “concerned with finding self and the meaning of life through free will, choice, and personal responsibility” (Existentialism). Gregor is unable to fulfill the existentialist view of finding meaning in one’s life; he acted only according to what his family wanted. Kafka’s belief that there is no meaning to life and that the individual has to create his own meaning in life is entirely missed by Gregor. Kafka uses the juxtaposing mindsets of Gregor and his family members to express the importance of an individual fulfilling his own needs.

In the book The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, there are many things that contribute to Gregor’s transformation into a monstrous insect that could have been prevented. One of the key contributors is that Gregor let himself take on the burden of caring for his family while they do seemingly nothing to help. In order to avoid all of the stress that is placed upon him, Gregor could have done a few things differently. The things he could have done to avoid his transformation are talking to his family about helping him with financing the household, taking time for a social life, and being involved in his father’s financial decisions.

In The Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka depicts the theme of family to send a message. For Gregor’s entire life, he has been taken granted for, considering that he is the only provider of his household. Once Gregor transforms into a dung beetle, he can no longer accommodate an income for his family, therefore leaving them to reject him. Mrs. Samsa, Mr. Samsa, and Grete go from loving Gregor unconditionally, to not loving him at all. In spite of Gregor mutating into a dung beetle, his feelings have not been altered and he still loves his family unconditionally, regardless of the fact that they won’t return the love. It is in a human being’s nature to love unconditionally; however, one may never receive this love in return, which can lead to somber and despairing issues that affect one’s life immeasurably. Kafka uses Gregor’s struggle to substantiate the fact that there is no such circumstance as unconditional love.

Sometimes in life, you have to adapt. Although it can be difficult, and even painful, change is necessary. In “The Metamorphosis” by Franz Kafka, this is shown to be the theme in multiple ways. “The Metamorphosis” is about a traveling salesman who awakens as an insect. This poses the question if he will ever return to normal.

The hunger artist fasts as a profession, because he wanted people’s attention to prove a point to them. He received the attention he wanted in the beginning, but he never had the chance to prove a point to them, even when he had their attention. For example, “Anyone who has no feeling for it to cannot be made to understand it.” They never understood why he fast, They never truly knew why he fasted, they didn’t even question why he was fasting, until before he passed away. Once he was questioned, he answered “because I couldn’t find the food I liked. If I had found it, believe me, I should have made no fuss and stuffed myself like you or anyone else.” (Kafka 334) Now he had made his point about why he was fasting. It symbolizes don’t give up

The misunderstandings, the confusion, the despair that permeate Kafka's writing is derived from a vision of disintegration. Although the symbolic images in which Kafka expresses these visions allude, often simultaneously, to man's relation to himself, to society, and to God, it is the psychological perspective that provides the core from which the sociological and theological implications are refracted. What emerges from Kafka's descriptions of his struggle to live an authentic life is a dynamic of psychological integration. His labor to give artistic form to the material of his inner life involved the achievement of a fruitful continuum between the unconscious and conscious that would find its culmination in a sense of spiritual justification.

There are many parallels and differences between Franz Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis” and "A Hunger Artist". Kafka portrays these differences and similarities very effectively through his utilization of elements such as transformation, dehumanization, and dedication to work. Through his works, Kafka communicates with the reader in such a way that almost provokes and challenges one’s imagination and creativity.

Colligative properties are based upon the number of solute particles, a substance that can be dissolved in a specified solution, and not upon their distinctiveness (Wilbraham, 2005). The key properties of solutions are boiling-point, freezing-point, and the vapor-pressure of any giving substance (Wilbraham, 2005). In colligative properties there are several key properties of solutions, the vapor pressure lowering is one of them. The particles of the solutes are bordered by and attracted to the particles of a solvent (Wilbraham, 2005).

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