"If you are different from the rest of the flock, they bite you,"" said Vincent O'Sullivan. The mental or physical suffering of a person is often found to be very entertaining to an audience, especially when they find that person to be different or as some might put it unique. We tend to alienate these people and treat them as if they were animals. As soon as something else comes along we forget that person even existed. "A Hunger Artist," by Franz Kafka, and "A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings," by Gabriel Garcia Marquez follows the same theme of alienation, neglect and dehumanization to those who are deemed different. .
In "A Hunger Artist," Kafka expresses the unique aspects of the hunger artist as well as the alienation he faces. The hunger artist is able to fast for long periods of time and is very passionate about his craft. He has an impresario who puts him in a cage in the center of town where people can come and see him. Many people gather to watch the hunger artist, but when the adults start to become suspicious that he is sneaking food they hire a few butchers to make sure it does not happen. They sometimes turn away to give him an opportunity to sneak some food, which aggravates the hunger artist. This shows alienation of the hunger artist and disrespect to his craft. He begins to feel as if his so-called fans hate him. His impresario cuts his act after forty days because people begin to lose interest. .
Kafka includes a few key elements of dehumanization when he explains the process of getting the hunger artist out of the cage. The impresario plays up the hunger artist extremely weakened stage expressing that it is from the lack of food hen in fact it is because he is forced outside of his cage. He then sends a doctor in the cage to report the hunger artist's condition, which is announced with a megaphone. Then two women chosen from the crowd help the hunger artist out of his cage.
