The Theme Of Suffering In Gregor And The Hunger Artist

Franz Kafka was born on the 3rd of July 1883 to a Jewish Austro Bohemian family in Prague.He is a renowned 20th century novelist and short story writer, well known for his fusion of realistic and fantastic elements within his works, now known as Kafkaesque. These elements present themselves through Isolated protagonists who go through surrealistic problems.There are various themes that can be explored within his novels, but the main one that we will be analyzing is the theme of Suffering through the main characters of both stories, Gregor and The Hunger Artist.The varied forms of suffering presented include Dissatisfaction, Isolation, and Death. These themes can be seen throughout both his characterization and the imagery is given to us within his short stories. “The Metamorphosis” and “The Hunger Artist”.

In “The Hunger Artist”, the theme of suffering can be seen most clearly within the main character of the story, the artist. This particular character goes through two forms of suffering within the narrative: physical and mental suffering. Firstly addressing physical suffering, as this is form is the most evident to the reader. Our hunger artist makes his living starving himself, and he is described at the beginning of the story as “He sat there pallid in black tights, with his ribs sticking out so prominently, not even on a seat but down among the straw on the ground” (222).This quote gives us good imagery into what the hunger artists body looks like, having fasted as a