Conformity and Rebellion in The Hunger Artist
People do not always make their own individual decisions. In fact, many people’s opinions and actions are consistent with everyone around them. This is known as conformity. Conformity is an essential part in any culture. It can be the backbone to any society and provides stability and regularity. However, there can be a few exceptions to this. This is known as rebellion. Rebellion is an individual action, and it is also a necessity in any society because it provides variety. There will come a time where a person will have to rebel against something or someone to find inner peace or freedom. This is exactly what happens in “The Hunger Artist” by Franz Kafka. Kafka uses material circumstances and commodification to show how the Hunger Artist is rebelling against society, while everyone else seems to be conforming to what 's popular at the time.
The Hunger Artist is valued, or commodified, for his ability to last many days without any source of nutrition. The people in the village were completely infatuated with his frail malnourished body. Even children sat “marveling at him while he sat there pallid in black tights” (Kafka 347). The Hunger Artist began to be obsessed with his popularity. He knew that the people loved him, and he took great pride in that. Additionally, because of the ever-growing admiration of the Hunger Artist, people began to conform to the new fad. For instance, Kafka states, “There were people who bought