The Hunger Artist

February 7, 2013 by bongmagnum Leave a comment

In art and in literature, expressionism uses personal emotion rather than realism to depict the world through emotional perception rather than objective perspective. Expressionism can distort the physical world in order to create moods or underlying messages intended by the author. This story falls under the category of expressionism because the author gives the Hunger Artist an unnatural, unrealistic ability to fast for long periods of time and the story is told through his emotional perspective. The dark humor lies in the Hunger Artist’s sense of inability to prove his true capabilities to anyone, and his perpetual agony that he puts himself in as a result. Symbolism also plays a role in the story because the cage, for example, is used to show an isolation between the Hunger Artist and the rest of society, both in a literal and a symbolic sense.