Hunger for Recognition

Connecting with other people is one of the most important things for our survival. We all desire a sense of belonging whether it be with family, friends, or society as a whole. Despite this universal need, there are many who are outcasted and rely on desperate measures that only worsen these feelings. Franz Kafka’s “A Hunger Artist” explores the isolation of those who cannot be understood by others and the dissatisfaction that occurs when recognition is denied.

In the shrinking business of fasting for entertainment, Kafka’s hunger artist craves two things: the mastery of his art and recognition for his work. The main conflict for him though is the increasing impossibility for gaining these, throwing him into endless dissatisfaction. One of the obstacles to his fulfillment is the inability of the audience to understand and appreciate his art form. Although the hunger artist holds a lot of pride and honor for his profession, the public can’t help but suspect that there is some trick behind his craft simply because nobody can witness the entire fast, leaving him “bound to be the sole completely satisfied spectator of his own fast. Yet for other reasons he was never satisfied” (Kafka 270). This dilemma of being the only capable “completely satisfied spectator” feeds into the hunger artist’s isolation from the public which only makes it harder for him to achieve the recognition he so desperately wants. Even when telling the crowd that fasting was “the easiest thing in the world”, they are separated from him because once again, they doubt the authenticity of his performance, believing he has found a way to cheat and make it easy (Kafka 270). Despite his dedication to fasting and his attempts to connect with the spectators, their suspicions only widen the gap between them. This response from the audience binds the hunger artist to his goal of a better version of his art almost as a way to prove to them wrong and finally get them to understand. 

This disconnect with the crowd is further exacerbated by the limits placed on the hunger artist by the impresario. To the hunger artist, this spectacle is for the sake of the art, but to the impresario and the public, it is just another part of the entertainment business. Overseeing this performance for profit, the impresario sets the maximum number of days for fasting to forty days due to the fact that “the interest of the public could be stimulated by a steadily increasing pressure of advertisement, but after that the town began to lose interest, sympathetic support began notably to fall off”(Kafka 270). Frustrated by this limit on his art, his hunger only grows knowing that he can do more and break records. However, even when he tries to voice these desires, sometimes “with an outburst of fury and to the general alarm began to shake the bars of his cage like a wild animal”, the impresario is quick to manipulate the truth to the public, further dejecting the hunger artist who knows that “to fight against this lack of understanding, against a whole world of understanding, was impossible” (Kafka 273). The vision of perfection to the hunger artist differs to that of the rest, putting him into a despair that will prove to be difficult to climb out of since his satisfaction relies on the acknowledgement of others. Waning interest, misunderstanding, and the denial of creative freedom pits the hunger artist alone and empty because he feeds off of validation. 

The loss of any recognition from the public is worsened by the hunger artist’s inability to find contentment in his own work. The records he holds will never be enough to satisfy himself; when managed by the impresario he even contemplates “why should he be cheated of the fame he would get for fasting longer, for being not only the record hunger artist of all time, which presumably he was already, but for beating his own record by a performance beyond human imagination” (Kafka 271). Here we get a glimpse into the perfectionist mindset that consumes the hunger artist and we begin to understand where his suffering comes from. Even though he already has the record for fasting, the hunger artist wants to surpass it “beyond human imagination”, revealing the unattainable standards he has placed for himself. These character traits of the hunger artist fall in line with the common trope of the obsessed artist. This trope, often characterized by a self-destructive pursuit of perfection, can be seen in plenty of movies today: passionate ballerina Nina in Black Swan, ambitious jazz student Andrew Neiman in Whiplash, and washed up actor Riggan Thomson in Birdman to name a few. What makes these characters interesting is that they are so possessed by their desire to be recognized as part of the top of their respective arts that they will sacrifice their own physical and mental health along with their relationships with others. 

The desire to be perfect is a commonly shared human experience. It’s in our nature to seek validation and acceptance from others, so we want to have the least amount of blemishes as possible to avoid failure, rejection, or embarrassment. Although it’s necessary to want to strive to do better and there’s always room for improvement, it’s important to be realistic about your expectations and be able to appreciate the work you’ve already put in. This can be especially tough though when this is drilled into your head as a child or when you’re constantly bombarded by the illusion of perfection in this digital age. This goes back to our social needs; when outcasted or denied recognition, we try to improve ourselves for a chance to be noticed by others. The trope of the obsessed artist takes this to another level, where the need for validation is so grand that the requirements to be acknowledged are set at perfection, a concept that is argued to not even exist.

Works Cited

Kafka, Franz and Nahum N. 1903-1990 Glatzer. The Complete Stories. New York, Schocken Books, 1995.