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Aishu Anil Rhetoric 101 Hackney 5 November 2013 He Represents She The modern young woman takes on a more varied role in todays society. She leaves the comfort of her own self in order to please others, paints a picture in her head using all her power to be that image, and questions herself when no one looks in her direction. To be accepted as a young woman, she feels she must act upon a certain way to fit into the cruel and insensitive world we live in today. Franz Kafkas A Hunger Artist displays some of the struggles a young woman in the 21st century faces by introducing us to this mysterious character known as the hunger artist. This, so called, artist takes it upon himself to fast for 40 straight days to serve as a kind of entertainment for the outside world. This character goes through an inner conflict to try and maintain these overseers attention. Through the perspective of feminist criticism, Franz Kafkas A Hunger Artist demonstrates the role a young woman chooses to take on such as altering her image, conflicting with her conscience, and justifying her actions in order to please our current society. Image has become a major part of a young females life and in order to please the people around her, she strives to fulfill the picture everyone else seems to devote their attention too. Kafka provides a good example in the story by describing the hunger artists appearance in his cage: he sat there pallid in black tights, with his ribs sticking out so prominently, not even on a seat but down among straw on the ground, sometimes giving a courteous nod, answering questions with a constrained smile, or perhaps stretching an arm through the bars so that one

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might feel how thin it was (918). in a way, the skeleton thinness of the hunger artist represents women and their portrayal of how a womans body image should consist of. And as soon as she achieves this specific appearance, she flaunts it for the world to lay their eyes upon as if she was born with this perception and didnt put in any effort on attaining it. In addition to image, the young female tends to question or conflict her conscience resulting in low self-esteem and an increased need to try and satisfy others in order to feel more in control. As soon as someone suspects her intentions, she pushes all her effort toward trying other possible ways to be accepted while having her true intent overlooked. The hunger artist is a prime example of this situation: Nothing annoyed the artist more than such watchers; they made him miserable; they made his fast seem unendurable (919). from this quote, you see the drastic change in the hunger artists motivation and self-esteem similar to how a young female reacts today. Regarding the hunger artist, Kafka also describes how some people set him down as modest, while some thought he was out for publicity. This can also relate to how other people treat young woman, while having the same sort of effect on them as they did the hunger artist. Through a feminists point of view, another example Kafka uses in the story that can portray a young woman today was when the hunger artists flower-bedecked cage was opened after his 40 day period of fasting has ended. The artist not only craved for more attention even then, but also justified why he should continue fasting: Besides, he was tired, he was comfortable sitting in the straw, and now he was supposed to lift himself to his full height and go down to the meal the very thought of which gave him nausea (920). Much like the hunger artist, the young woman tries to justify all of her actions with minor little details in hopes to receive more attention than she has already acquired. In a way, she becomes greedy for attention

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much like the hunger artist: Why should he be cheated of the fame he would get for fasting longer (920). this summarizes the mentality of the modern young female since so many of them are hungry for attention resulting in the justification of their actions. In summation, Kafka provides many examples that can be interpreted through the perspective of feminist criticism regarding the modern young woman. Aided with A Hunger Artist, it is safe to say that young women devote the majority of their effort into trying to be accepted into our current society. The hunger artist pursued fasting which, for the elders, he was often just a joke that happened to be in fashion, but the children stood open-mouthed (918). Just like the artist, the modern young woman pursues different things such as altering her image and while in the process of doing so, she strains to justify her actions leading to an inner conflict with her conscience. In the end, the hunger artist experienced a period where all his visitors started to ignore him and move on to more favored attractions. This resulted in a drastic decrease in his self-esteem which then he pursued on finding a new place to display his profession. In the end, it is revealed the true intent of why the hunger artist chose to fast and that being, because I couldnt 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 (924). The final point is that hunger artist wanted something obvious to him but easily overlooked by the overseers: self-happiness. Much like the hunger artist, the modern young woman feels the need to take additional steps in order to fulfill such an obvious desire but she fails to understand that to fight against this lack of understanding, against a whole world of non-understanding, was impossible (921).

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Works Cited
Kafka, Franz. "A Hunger Artist." Trans. Edwin Muir and Willa Muir. 1922. The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction. Comp. R.V. Cassill and Richard Bausch. 6th ed. New York: Norton, 2000. 918-24. Print.