Essay, Research Paper: Poetry Analysis

In today’s modern society, the entertainment industry plays a vital role in people’s everyday life. From movies to Broadway, music to television, or even NASCAR to lawn mower racing, everyone has some form of entertainment that grabs their attention. In case of the hunger artist, he was trying to set a record number of days for fasting. However in the end, there was no good reason why he chose to do so, except that he didn’t find the foods he liked. The Hunger Artist’s talent, in a way, describes the overall actions of society as a whole, in the way that it treats entertainers or celebrities.
When a person first enters the entertainment industry, or when someone enters the public eye in any way shape or form, the public first has to take notice of this person. Once this person is know, the public somehow collectively decides whether to accept this person for who they are and what they do, or spit them out. In the Hunger Artist’s case, from when this profession took place, it was an instant hit. Everyone wanted to see it and marvel at the amazing talent. It is in human nature, to follow the current trends, to see what everyone else is seeing, and at this time it was the hunger artist. Modern culture is the same way, to an extent, seeing how quickly new bands or movie stars make a hit and they make millions of dollars, and then they get smacked in the face. Society eventually moves away from the current trends at the time and is forced into a change of some kind. Whether or not certain entertainers will accept that society is going to change with or with out them is the main concern. Not in the hunger artists life though, he was going to fast and that was that. His only real concern was the record number of days fasting he wanted to break, which he had set himself? "His public pretended to admire him so much, why should it have so little patience with him; if he could endure fasting longer, why shouldn’t the public endure it?" I think this is a very important statement in the reading and it really makes a direct connection with today’s modern society despite the time period difference. In today’s society this statement might pertain to a music-recording artist. Someone might write a hit album, make it big, and have millions of fans all over the place, wanting to see them, or buy their album. This would be a great financial income for that person, or a great living. Society would embrace their gift and then they might write a not so good album, and society would reject them. Does the artist continue or as we say, "try, try again"? In the Hunger Artist’s point of view, he would keep right on going because it makes him happy. The recording artist would try something else because the music isn’t making the same kind of money it used to, therefore he must lower his standard of living to compensate for societies rejection of his talent. As for the hunger artist, money and standards of living do not play a role in is happiness; therefore he has only the societal pressures influencing his decisions. The hunger artist finished his fast under the Impresario, and was forced to move on in his ways. He then joined a circus that had enormous traffic, so once again more people could marvel at his talent. As many are doing so in our society, musicians are moving from the stage to the big screen or vise versa, because their luck ran out. This is yet another stage in that person’s life, which will soon and once again end like it, did the first time. After the hunger artist joined the circus, he had many more days of the crowd’s marvelous gaze, but that too ran out. When he was found under the straw in his cage, he was asked if he was still fasting, and then soon died by the talent that he lived for. This too is representative of today’s society because once an entertainer gets too old or loses their ability, they are cast out by society and are virtually dead in the eyes of their field until there death. At that point, they are quickly replaced by the next rising star, to enter the cycle. Society is a never-ending machine that as long as people live on this earth will control anything and everything that enters it.


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