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The Hunger Artist.
The Hunger artist is a publication of a man who was popularly known due to his act of fasting. He is not satisfied with his work and he felt frustrated because both his manager and the audience did not appreciate his work. He feels isolated and ends up living in a cage. In the hunger artist, themes such as, art and culture, change and transformation, and alienation and isolation are displayed. Art and culture are highly portrayed in the story of the hunger artist. The artists’ art is a representation of his suffering. He subjects himself to fasting, though it should be out of one’s will, the artist does it due to self-denial. He could not accept the person he had become and the environment around him and this made him opt for fasting because he thought it was the only solution to his misfortune. The audience does not believe him and he had to prove that he was truly fasting and that he was not cheating about it. This made him suffer more because he was unable to make people understand him. Perhaps the audience took his fasting as entertainment. The audience did not appreciate his suffering. Just like the case of Jesus, the hunger artist faster for 40 days. The audience could not believe him just like how people could not believe Jesus.
Change occurs in our day-to-day lives. In the hunger artist, the artist had to live in a cage and this changed his way of life. “we live in a different world now,” are the words the artist proclaims. The audience is no longer interested in his entertainment and this reduced his mass followers thus becoming less popular. The audience shifted to more entertaining artists. This frustrates him and thinks that the changes he is undergoing are unfair. He is unable to win his audience back and ends up being depressed. For instance; the pandemic in the world today has brought change to our lives changing our way of living. Individuals have to be on their toes in ensuring their safety. It has brought deaths to our loved ones making many orphans. It has also changed the societal settings. It brings isolation to the individual affected.
Due to the nature of the art and culture of the artist, he feels alienated from others. The artists’ alienation was highly contributed by himself. For instance; he fasted not because of his artistic purpose but because he could not get anything to eat. The artist isolated himself from others because no one understood his art and neither the audience nor his manager appreciated his art. This made him feel not worthy enough and then decided to live in a cage. This also made him feel lonely and frustrated since no one was on his side. The cage is symbolic of the barrier between the artists and the rest of the world. Despite the artist been professionally successful, he does not enjoy life just like other successful people. He is filled with self-denial and not been able to be satisfied. Food is symbolic of life; the artist does not find what food he likes meaning that the artist is unable to get the passion of living.
The empire of necessity was a historical book that displayed freedom and slavery. The Slave trade was common in West Africa and in which Africans were sold as slaves to Americans. The local leaders traded their locals to the slave traders and also the slave was kidnapped. Others were exchanged with American goods. The slaves captured worked in the Americans’ plantations. They were ill-treated and some died in the process. The Americans view slaves as uneducated. After the end of the southern American war, there was a rising rebellion against slavery. Some countries freed the capture slaves. Slaves could provide cheap labor, and thus the masters maximized their profits. The book comprised of slave leaders; Mori and Babo, the seal hunter; Delano, and Cerreno who was the Spanish captain of Tryal. When Delano boarded Tryal, he could not understand that the slaves were now in charge but he believed Babo who insisted that everything was well despite him seeing his captives moving freely in the ship.
In the book the Empire of necessity, Grandin explained how Christianity and Muslims helped in the movement of slaves. Due to the religious wave over Africa to America, the Muslims worked in hand with Christianity increasing the slave trade. He also describes the harsh conditions to which the slaves were subjected into. For instance; the slaves traded at the west coast were forced to board ships in chains. Many slaves were sold in Aires, and forced to stretch over the Andes mountains to chile. Grandin changes the perspective that slaves were uneducated. He advocated for freedom for every individual.
In conclusion, an individual should differentiate between reality and allusion. The reality is always bitter to bear, but one should take full control of himself or herself. Self-acceptance is healing to depression and worries.
References.
Rubinstein, William C. “Franz Kafka: a hunger artist.” Monatshefte (1952): 13-19.
Byrne, John J. “Teacher as hunger artist: Burnout: Its causes, effects, and remedies.” Contemporary Education 69.2 (1998): 86.
Grandin, Greg. The Empire of Necessity: The Untold History of a Slave Rebellion in the Age of Liberty. Simon and Schuster, 2014.
Young, Jason. “The Empire of Necessity: Slavery, Freedom, and Deception in the New World.” (2017): 483-483.
