1000 word count need outline and rough draft: Assignment Description: For this essay, you will be using your knowledge of the rhetorical situation and ethos to create an argument. You can respond to a

NAME

English 1302- (SECTION NUMBER)

Professor Burns

DAY MONTH YEAR

Moving With The Times
How much can something bend before it breaks? Try bending a pencil and it will break easily. Try bending a rubber band and it will bounce back into place. In a less literal sense, even people can break too, but just like pencils and rubber bands the breaking point varies. In “The Hunger Artist” by Franz Kafka, the hunger artist shows just how far someone can go without breaking. The story details the life of a hunger artist, who dedicates himself to starvation for the entertainment of a crowd. However, the crowd is not entertained forever, and interest in the artist wanes. From here the artist’s stubbornness shines through. Where most people would give up or change their act to bring the crowd back, the artist continues the same act. Why does he continue to do the same thing knowing people won’t be interested? Through the actions and words of the artist he shows himself unable to adapt to life and move on from the past.
In the beginning of the story, the hunger artist is at the height of his fame. From the start it is clear the hunger artist places an immense amount of pride in his act. He prefers diligent watchers and even feels joy when others eat in front of him. “But his happiest moment was when the morning came and an enormous breakfast was brought them, at his expense…” (Kafka 320). To the artist this was a display of his resilience and it showed how dedicated he was. However despite this he never feels satisfied with his art. When the time comes for him to be released instead of feeling relieved, he questions why they make him stop, “Why stop fasting at this particular moment...when he was in his best fasting form?” (Kafka 321) With so much importance placed on his ability to fast, of course he does not want to be stopped before he feels he has performed well enough. Being forced to stop wounds his pride as a hunger artist. As a result he resents the display made at the designated end of his fast. The artist feels the people who carry him to the table to eat, “were apparently so friendly and in reality so cruel” (Kafka 321). No matter how many times he performs he’s left feeling empty instead of satisfied. This cycle repeats itself wherever he goes, and perhaps this is why he remains stuck in the same act instead of moving on.
Nothing lasts forever, especially not fame. Fame is dependent on the interest of the public, but the public can be easily swayed by new talent. The same act done over and over will become stale with time. Unfortunately for the artist this is what happened to him, he was deserted by the crowd: “For meanwhile the aforementioned interest change in public interest had set in; it seemed to happen almost overnight...the pampered hunger artist suddenly found himself deserted…” (Kafka 322). For a bit he continued to travel around, but the interest was gone. No one would come to see him anymore. At this point another performer might change their act, but the hunger artist doubles down and employs himself to a circus. His reasoning is part practical - for example, his age - but also partly because he does not want to do anything else, “he was not only too old for that but too frantically devoted to fasting” (Kafka 323). This is what he had been doing for years, so how could he just stop? Changing his act or stopping is not an option to him. Even the circus will not guarantee his act will bring anyone in but as long as there is a chance and an opportunity the artist is willing to take it. Without the impresario to smother him there is nothing to stop him from performing how he wants to. With new vigor he boasts openly of what he could do, “he even alleged that if he were allowed to fast as he like...he could astound the world by establishing a new record never yet achieved…” (Kafka 323). In his eyes the circus is a chance to start anew. He can use his name to draw in attention and dazzle the population with the skills he feels he never got to show off. At least it would if not for the fact that interest had already been lost, a fact the other performers clearly saw, “a statement which certainly provoked a smile amongst the other professionals, since it left out of account the change in public opinion…” (Kafka 323). Blinded by excitement at the possibilities the artist forgot the reality of his situation and why he had ended up in the circus. Regardless of him breaking his records or not the crowd was not going to care. The fame tied to his name was no longer enough to interest people, and continuing to use it makes him look like a washed up star trying to hold on to glory long past. Considering the fervor the artist had for his art there must have been more than just fame motivating him. Surely there would have to be something else to explain why he continues performing even after that fame went away. Not only that, but this is something the artist has dedicated quite a lot of his life to and even claimed was easy to do. Taking all this into consideration it would seem like his motivation is something grand and meaningful, but it turns out to be rather simple: he is a picky eater. On a deathbed of his own making the artist finally confesses, “‘Because’ the hunger artist said…’because I couldn’t 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’” (Kafka 325). In the end that was it, he just never found something he liked to eat. The reason is so simple it feels underwhelming and a bit childish to think about. Sure his life is his to do what he wants with it, but after a certain point his actions become excessive. Many people do things they dislike to make a living; it is a necessary part of life. The artist’s confession shows a man who would rather destroy himself than adapt to what life throws at him.
The hunger artist’s life is a good lesson on why change is a necessary aspect of life. When the signs clearly show his glory is gone and he must move on he instead chooses to cling on to his way of life and it leads to his demise. Even before that he was doing little more than hurting himself by starving himself just from pickiness. His stubbornness in the face of adversity is less an inspiring story and more of a warning of what not to do. Refusing to break to the circumstances can be a good quality to have, but sometimes breaking and moving on is the right thing to do.