After reading "A Hunger Artist," by Franz Kafka and "Araby," by James Joyce, I felt a strong connection between the two. The stories themselves are very different, however the literary elements are quite similar. Personally, character, symbol and plot structure stood out the most to me. The authors of these two stories use character and symbol among many others, to illustrate the common themes of "A Hunger Artist" and "Araby." The first element that stood out the most prominently to me was character. In "A Hunger Artist," the main character is a man who starves himself as part of an act all because he wants people to pay attention and love him. In "Araby" the main character is a boy who is obsessed with a girl who he hardly knows, and when he gets a chance at possibly being with her things don't work out and he is heart-broken. Both of these stories have an unhappy ending and they constantly revolve around heartache and disappointment. The characters in these stories only want someone to notice and love them. The Hunger Artist doesn't really have anyone besides the man who runs his shows and advertises him. He is so hungry for attention that he will do anything. He is different from the boy because he wants everyones attention, not just one person. The Hunger Artist would be better off if he just focused on getting attention from one or two people. I think since he doesn't have anyone at all he just wants everyone. However, I think that the boy needs a lot more attention then this one girl. The boy has his aunt, uncle, and sister but they don't seem to bother with him too much. Although he may not admit it, he needs more attention from him. Instead, he focuses all his energy on this one girl and his destroyed when things don't work out the way he wants them to. If both of these characters somehow knew each others story, they could learn something from each other and get what they want.