The Hunger Artist And A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings Analysis
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ENG242
24/04/2015
“The Hunger Artist” and “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings”: A Study of Physical and Metaphoric Transformation
“The Hunger Artist” and “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” are vastly different at first glance, but the underlying themes of transformation and of human fascination with all things morbid are the same throughout both. Marquez’s story of the old man with wings who appeared to be an angel who fell on Earth is a disturbing study of how humans treat someone they do not consider their own. The fact that he had wings and was weak and powerless made him not only a subject of extreme ridicule and thoughtless but despicable cruelty. The celestial being was treated with varying reactions by the townsfolk. Pelavo …show more content…
The old man never seemed to want or care for the horrible attention he was receiving whereas the hunger artist did his performance for the sole purpose of awing his audience over his self-control and discipline. The hunger artist was an artist because he considered his starved, skeletal body to be a work of art produced by the most diligent self-control and nurturing, or rather lack of thereof. Even though many thought that he cheated on his fast to keep up his “performance”, he never cheated to prove his integrity to …show more content…
On the surface, they seem to be two very different stories. One outlines a very real career choice for performing artists at the start of the 20th century, whereas the other describes the miraculous appearance of a celestial being in a small town with very little other means of entertainment. However, the similarity in the two stories is seen in the epic transformations that the two characters go through and the same astounding level of viciousness shown by the two different crowds. German author Kafka and Columbian author Marquez both tell us how amazingly stupid, thoughtless and cruel humans can be when faced with individuality and
ENG242
24/04/2015
“The Hunger Artist” and “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings”: A Study of Physical and Metaphoric Transformation
“The Hunger Artist” and “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” are vastly different at first glance, but the underlying themes of transformation and of human fascination with all things morbid are the same throughout both. Marquez’s story of the old man with wings who appeared to be an angel who fell on Earth is a disturbing study of how humans treat someone they do not consider their own. The fact that he had wings and was weak and powerless made him not only a subject of extreme ridicule and thoughtless but despicable cruelty. The celestial being was treated with varying reactions by the townsfolk. Pelavo …show more content…
The old man never seemed to want or care for the horrible attention he was receiving whereas the hunger artist did his performance for the sole purpose of awing his audience over his self-control and discipline. The hunger artist was an artist because he considered his starved, skeletal body to be a work of art produced by the most diligent self-control and nurturing, or rather lack of thereof. Even though many thought that he cheated on his fast to keep up his “performance”, he never cheated to prove his integrity to …show more content…
On the surface, they seem to be two very different stories. One outlines a very real career choice for performing artists at the start of the 20th century, whereas the other describes the miraculous appearance of a celestial being in a small town with very little other means of entertainment. However, the similarity in the two stories is seen in the epic transformations that the two characters go through and the same astounding level of viciousness shown by the two different crowds. German author Kafka and Columbian author Marquez both tell us how amazingly stupid, thoughtless and cruel humans can be when faced with individuality and