The Essays I wrote

Cruncher 3

Gregor and the Hunger Artist are similar in more than one way. Their situation, personality, and the change of their circumstance and ideals go along together.

Personal and social value are both very important to them, although Gregor never admits it while the Hunger Artist does. At the beginning of both stories, the main character has value. Gregor was valuable to society by working and to his family by earning money. The Hunger Artist was famous for his practice as, "the whole town took a lively interest in the hunger artist... everybody wanted to see him at least once a day" giving him value (Hunger Artist). Then it changed in almost the exact span of time, Gregor just wakes one day to find that he has turned into a bug, and the Hunger Artist loses the public interest in what "seemed to happen overnight" (Hunger Artist). They both lose the value they once had and now they have none.

Interestingly enough, Kafka wrote Gregor's and the Hunger Artist's death almost exactly alike. Both characters die of starvation, are found by someone accidentally, are disposed of unceremoniously, and are replaced by a happier feeling. Mr. Samsa exclaims, "now we can thank God!" when he learns that his son died (Metamorphosis). The hunger Artist was immediately replaced by a young, lively panther which "Even the most insensitive felt it refreshing to see this wild creature leaping around the cage that had so long been dreary" (Huger Artist). Nobody feels remorse for the loss; in fact, they are content and relieved of the passing of Gregor and the Hunger Artist.

Gregor and the Hunger Artist are both depicted as calm, eager, devoted, agreeable characters. However, they are both unsatisfied with their jobs. A difference between them is that Gregor's job ends and he "has no responsibility" gaining a time of peace, while the Hunger Artist is unsatisfied throughout the entire story (Metamorphosis). Both are eager to please and to receive positive attention.

The concept of the metamorphosis is simply change. It was represented as a change or openness of oneself that has an effect on others and society as a whole. The art of fasting represents a once-popular-but now-dying/dead fad. And the artist is quite literally the depiction of a 'Starving Artist'. Gregor was received negatively, basically throughout the story. The Hunger Artist had people who like him then interests changed and he, along with Gregor, were left to die.