In his short story “A Starving Artist,” Franz Kafka uses the extreme example of the fictional starving artist to discuss the dichotomy between art and life. Usually an artist uses their life to create their art. Thus, an artist removed from the world will use his art to represent alienation, which ironically could bring him closer to the world. Kafka did this by writing about his feelings of isolation and frustrations with society in stories such as “The Metamorphosis” and his novel The Trial. In writing these stories, Kafka expressed some of his disappointment with the world and leaves it to his audience to analyze them as such. In this cycle, the artist channels their problems into art to deal with their difficulties, and the audience accepts the art, providing the artist with social acceptance and relief from loneliness. Say no to plagiarism. Get a Custom Essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an Original Essay Kafka sheds light on this healthy cycle by describing artistic production in “A Hunger Artist,” in which the artistic creation of the artist does not lead to a positive cycle, because his suffering breeds suffering. His desire to be an artist is explained by “his inner dissatisfaction” (246) with the world. The hunger artist does not starve himself to death because he considers starvation a respected art form, but “because I could not find the food I liked” (255). Instead of channeling his problems into creating art, the starving artist uses himself as a canvas and personifies his dissatisfaction, which leads to a lack of separation between artist and art. Without such separation, the starving artist is entirely dependent on the audience's appreciation for the piece to work. In fact, “nothing annoyed the artist more than” the night watchmen who paid him little attention, giving him ample time to sneak out, and “much more to his taste were the watchmen sitting near the bars. .. which focused him in the full glare of the electric flashlight” (245). The artist looks to his audience for approval and would do "anything to keep [these observers] awake and demonstrate... that he was fasting when none of them could fast" (245). . He must prove himself to the public by displaying his talent and winning their approval, and only then, when he is "honored by the world" (249), can the starving artist consider himself accomplished. However, the more the artist fasts, the more the public does not believe that he is actually doing it, causing him additional suffering and leading to a smaller negative cycle within the already damaging larger cycle of work production. hunger artist. Although the hunger artist mainly receives negative feedback from the public, he can only live because the public pays attention to him. This point is most evident when "interest in professional fasting...has diminished noticeably" (243), which ultimately leads to the hunger artist's demise, since no one takes an active interest in his life, which which allows him to die of starvation. The starving artist is not brought closer to the world through his creative process, but discovers that he can only survive by creating art and showing it to the public. Instead of using art as an expression of his life, the starving artist uses his art to live. So, he has no life outside of his art. Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get a personalized article from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay Through The Starving Artist, Kafka defines the dangers of depending on art for life. The starving artist expresses his dissatisfaction with the world by using himself and not an external canvas to.