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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who could watch the hunger artist continuously, day and night?

2. What would the hunger artist do to prove he wasn't eating?

3. What lights the stage of the artist at night?

4. What do most of the watchers think the artist is looking for?

5. How are the results of the fast announced?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the audience's lack of understanding affect the artist?

2. What are the reactions of those who do stop at the circus?

3. What about the cage's placement at the circus further lowers the artist's spirit?

4. What happens once the impresario has shaken the weakened artist following the fast?

5. What does the artist recollect about the old days in contrast to now?

6. What is described as the antithesis of the artist?

7. What changes in terms of the artist's limitations in Part 2?

8. What might the hunger artist's explanation refer to regarding the author?

9. How long is the fast and why is it this fixed time?

10. What is the narrator's exposition regarding the artist in Part 2?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss Kafka's use of exposition in the story. What does he detail in the exposition? How much of the story contains exposition? Why?

Essay Topic 2

What other figures in history have had famous fasts? Why? How does the hunger artist's fast compare to these?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the Absurdist qualities of "A Hunger Artist." How is this story a forerunner of the Absurdist movement?

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