Hunger Artist Nonconformism

In today’s society there is much diversity surrounding each individual. Within each culture there may be nonconformists or people who don’t fit into society. Kafka’s “A Hunger Artist” is an allegory of how society views and treats nonconformity and uses metaphors, opposition, and vivid details to present those views and actions.

The character portrayed in “A Hunger Artist” is deemed as an attraction that is separated from the society in which he lives. Kafka shows this separation when the hunger artist sets up at the circus, “...he and his cage should be stationed, not in the middle of the ring as a main attraction, but outside…” (4). The story, however, could be interpreted into a deeper meaning that suggests how society cuts off nonconformists.

Towards the end of the story the hunger artist says, “...‘because I couldn’t find the food I liked. If I had found it, and believe me, I would have made no fuss and stuffed myself like you or anyone else’” (5). The hunger artist’s inability to find a food he likes is a metaphor for a nonconformist’s ability to conform or fit in. In the quote above the hunger artist says that he would have ate like everyone else (meaning conform and fit in), but he can’t because he can’t find a food that he likes (he can’t conform in ways that he would’ve

In the beginning, the narrator details, “...the whole town took a lively interest in the hunger artist; from day to day of his fast the excitement mounted; everybody wanted to see him at least once a day…” (1). The society that the hunger artist lived in was intrigued with his art, but amazement lasted only so long. Society became uninterested with the hunger artist after a while because he was different. People no longer found amusement with the hunger artist’s peculiarities that separated him from society, the narrator describes, “...suddenly found himself deserted one fine day by the amusement seekers, who went streaming past him to other more favored attractions” (3). Those “more favored attractions” are what Kafka is trying to show how society becomes ‘entertained’ with the more adaptive diversities. In fact, Kafka writes of a young panther to counter the representation of the hunger artist. The panther represents everything the hunger artist is not. Kafka writes, “...they braced themselves, crowded round the cage, and did not want ever to move away” (5), when society experiences the new vibrant panther. This society has accepted the panther because the animal is acting the way society wants it to. The panther conformed to the type of entertainment that the audience was looking