The Disturbing Elements of Knut Hamsen’s Hunger
“One of the most disturbing novels in existence” writes Time Out magazine on the 1890 novel Hunger. This criticism seems extreme considering the nature of more modern texts; people now consume books full of gore and lewd sex. Despite this recent trend in fiction, Knut Hamsen’s Hunger continues to strike a cord with its readers. As Time Out’s quote suggests, this continuity is due to the book’s disturbing theme. Hunger disturbs the way people often assume a man would behave while in the depths of poverty’s grasp. The text disturbs the common concept that, if a man is desperate he will ignore his pride and decency for the opportunity to escape his situation.
The protagonist is himself achingly hungry when a man begs him to spare a bit of money to buy a meal. One would likely presume that the famished protagonist would consider his own breakfast before another’s. This however, is not the case.
“‘I haven’t eaten a thing since yesterday in Drammen, “ the man said. “‘ I don’t have an ore and I still can’t find work.’” (8). After a bit of trivial dialogue, the protagonist responds to the beggar’s statement, “‘Wait here a few minuets, and I’ll see if I can’t find something for you, a little something at least.’” He says. (9). The protagonist goes on to pawn his own waistcoat in order to appease his comrade’s hunger. While it is true that a portion of the money brought in by the waistcoat the protagonist used to purchase his own meager food, the fact remains that the majority of the coins were given away. If taken at face value, the exchange was a simple gesture of kindness but, if one were to dig deeper the contribution if found to have been made out of pride. The protagonist was proud that a man had perceived him as a person who had the means to donate a meal. For the character to have admitted that he was just hungry himself would have effectively dashed the pride that he so savored. Pride that to the protagonist was worth the value of a hungry man’s meal.
The narrator’s stubborn pride is highlighted shortly after the previous passage. As he wanders about the early morning streets his shabby blanket in tow, the man’s mind wanders. “What would people think of me? So I walked along trying to think of someplace where it would be safe until later.
A Case For Tragic Optimism by Victor Frankl states “ With the increase of the imperative urge of hunger all individual differences will blur, and in their stead will appear the uniform expression of the one instilled urge.”The one urge this piece discusses is the urge to exist. The basis of human nature is to avoid mortality. All of the experiences of life will blur and all that remains is the urge to exist.
Four and a half months after the Union defeated the Confederacy at the Battle of Gettysburg, Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address on November 19, 1863. He gave the Union soldiers a new perspective on the war and something to fight for. Before the address, the Civil War was based solely on states’ rights. Lincoln’s speech has the essence of America and the ideals that were put into the Declaration of Independence by the founders. The sixteenth president of the United States was capable of using his speech to turn a war on states rights to a war on slavery and upholding the principles that America was founded upon. By turning the Civil War into a war that was about slavery he was able to ensure that no foreign country would recognize the south as an independent nation, thus ensuring Union success in the war. In his speech, Lincoln used the rhetorical devices of juxtaposition, repetition, and parallelism.
Chipotle held food, ideas & music festival every year. The company invited local farmers and chiefs to provide healthy meals. The idea of the event is to show the support the sustainability and enhance the brand image-fresh, healthy & natural to its customers. In the films Chipotle made, they all communicate and show the respect for the food and environment. The company successfully build a clear brand image to increase the favorability and to strengthen the main idea: natural, fresh &
Sherwood Anderson depicts all the characters throughout his 24 short stories as a grotesque. He prefaces most of the stories with the old writer’s definition of what it means to be a grotesque. This definition frames how the book is to be interpreted throughout the different stories. Anderson paints every character as a grotesque. However, he does not paint them in the same light. What may make one person a grotesque may not make another person a grote...
He had just beaten out George B. McClellan for president. McClellan wanted the country split into two- one slave-holding and one free. However, the country had chosen Lincoln, they wanted the country to stay together. People wanted too much of Lincoln. He would have enemies no matter what choice he made. So now, instead of staying passive like he did in his first Inaugural Address, he took a stand in his second. He told the country that God sent the slaves to them early in this country, but now He wanted them gone. The war was a punishment from God for all slaveholders. Lincoln made this a rallying cry for all northerners, telling them that they would fight “until every drop of blood drawn with the lash, shall be paid by another drawn with the sword.” This war would be bloody, but if they could only keep fighting a little more, there would be success at the
In “A Hunger Artist” Kafka portrays the artist as an obsessed person with starving himself. Not even death matter as long as he gets that attention he wants from society. Kafka wants society to be the reason that artist became they way he is now. “He worked with integrity, but the world cheated [the artist] of his reward” (Kafka 144). The Hunger Artist no longer has anything significant in his life but the only thing that makes him the way he is because he wants the public’s attention. Society demands are high and not easy to achieve, to the point where the artist was the center of attention in big cities with beautiful girls waiting to help him come out of his cage. But now he is in small cage, neglected by everyone, even when it comes to fasting “no one [counts] the days, no one, not even the hunger artist himself, [know] his extent of his achievement” (144). In the end, the hunger artist body could no longer sustain himself after the long-lasting fast, however society was moving on and he was not. Society was the downfall of his life, wanting public attention is not easy with a cruel society that demands change and new entertainment.
Four and a half months after the Union defeated the Confederacy at the Battle of Gettysburg, Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address on November 19, 1863. He gave the Union soldiers a new perspective on the war and a reason to fight in the Civil War. Before the address, the Civil War was based on states’ rights. Lincoln’s speech has the essence of America and the ideals that were instilled in the Declaration of Independence by the Founders. The sixteenth president of the United States was capable of using his speech to turn a war on states’ rights to a war on slavery and upholding the principles that America was founded upon. By turning the Civil War into a war about slavery he effortlessly ensured that no foreign country would recognize the South as an independent nation, ensuring Union success in the war. In his speech, Lincoln used the rhetorical devices of juxtaposition, repetition, and parallelism, to touch the hearts of its listeners.
It is funny and yet tragic to see that no matter where an individual’s geographical location is or for the most part when in history the duration of their lifetime occurred, that they still can share with other tormented individuals the same pain, as a result of the same malignancies plaguing humanity for what seems to have been from the beginning. Emily Dickinson’s poetry, Gustave Flaubert’s Madame Bovary, and Lu Xun’s “Diary of a Madman” all exhibit disgust for their societies, what is particularly interesting however, is that the subject of their complaints are almost identical in nature. This demonstrates how literature really does reflect the attitudes and tribulations the society and or culture endures from which it was written. The grievances that they feel to be of such importance as to base their literary works on are that of traditionalism and, the carnivorous nature of society. Different societies will inevitably produce different restrictive and consuming faces to these problems.
On March 4, 1865, Abraham Lincoln delivered his second inaugural speech. Abraham Lincoln begins by addressing the nation on the ongoing civil war and his hopes on the nation uniting as a country again. Lincoln tells them “ The progress of our arms upon which all else chiefly depends, is as well known to the public as to myself; and it its, “ Lincoln is saying that he is equal to the public and that he has also felt the wars effect. I think the main reason why this speech was written was to start reconstruction. Since the Civil War just ended, now is the time to start reconstruction. Later on, Lincoln starts talking about the North and South. It says,“ Both parties deprecated war; but one of them would make war rather than let the nations survive; and the other would accept war rather than let it perish.” It means that the North and South weren’t planning on war but because of wanting to save their nation, they sacrificed themselves and started a war. Lincoln then states, “ To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend the union, even by war; while the government claimed no right to do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it. He is saying that the war happened not because of the issue of owning slavery but because of the expansion of slavery.
Singer, Peter. “Famine, Affluence, and Morality.” Current Issues and Enduring Questions. 8th ed. Eds. Sylvan Barnet and Hugo Bedau. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2008. 7-15. Print.
Imagine a scenario where you’re in tremendous pain and you want to end the pain before death comes over you. Even if you wanted to make that choice, the government of the United States has already made this choice for you by illegalizing what is called assisted suicide. There are 3 different kinds of suicide involving the assistance of others; assisted suicide, euthanasia and passive euthanasia, and mercy killing, these came to be a hot topic during the 1990s when doctors and nurses started going to jail because of helping their patients kill themselves, not for financial gain but because it was the humane and just thing to do(Ackerman). As a human we are given the right to life as an infant, so shouldn’t by default we be given the right to die? Assisted suicide should be legal for many reasons, because of our freedoms and liberties, to lessen the amount of end of life pain and to save money.
The film The Hunger Games, released in 2012 and based off the first book of a literary trilogy, has become a source of entertainment and intrigue among many Americans. Featuring a futuristic and dystopian United States, it has captured the imagination for some and kindled a intense obsession for others. While on the surface this movie might seem to simply be a story with a riveting plot line about young love, vicious combat, and survival, it is much more than that. As most films do, if one takes a closer look, The Hunger Games gives rise to multiple sociological patterns and themes. If one observes with an informed and critical eye, sociological issues that are embedded in the film are revealed. From this, one can draw cultural and sociological conclusions based on the way in which characters are portrayed, the setting is presented, and events unfold as the plot thickens. As I watched this film, I took note of four particular sociological themes that consistently presented themselves throughout the course of events: gender roles, race, class inequality, and class structure.
In this poem, the speaker stopped by the woods on a winter evening observing its beauty while wrestling with himself about the idea of returning to the warmth of the village he lives in or stay and watch the snow fill up the freezing woods. “This poem illustrates many of the qualities most characteristic of Frost, including the attention to natural detail, the relationship between humans and nature, and the strong theme suggested by individual lines” (Explanation of: 'Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening). The speaker’s tone appears to be pensive as he wants to stay in the woods longer, but concedes that he has certain responsibilities to fulfill like travelling before resting. It is as if this outdoorsy person adores nature and needs to be a part of the
Kafka, Franz. ?A Hunger Artist.? Literature and its Writers. Ed. Karen S. Henry. 3rd ed. Bedford/St. Martin?s, Boston/New York 2004. 255-262
...th his mother. His mother was really important to him and the same goes his mother. “She reminded me daily that I was her sole son, her reason for living, and that if she were to lose me, in either body or spirit, she wished that God would mercifully smite her, strike her down like a weak branch” (166). He and his mother were very important to one another that she would really die if he was gone from her life. They share something important and that is food. Now that she has passed away he looks back on his life and thinks back to all the times they had together. The food that he ate as a child gave him such wonderful memories. Now it is something that he was able to do himself and every time he would make it, he would think about his mother and it makes him smile.