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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. When the watchers are invited to take on a night's vigil without a breakfast, what do they do?

2. The ladies who help the artist down are apparently so friendly and in reality are so what?

3. What does the artist hold outside the bars from time to time?

4. In what tense is "A Hunger Artist" written?

5. How long is the limit of the artist's fast set to be?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the impresario wrap up his sympathy routines in Part 2?

2. How is the artist an exhibitionist versus an inhibitionist?

3. What does the artist "do" in the cage? What is his interaction with the audience?

4. What is one way to view the artist's suffering negatively?

5. How is the artist's situation "absurd" in "A Hunger Artist"?

6. What does the artist experience of the audience at the circus?

7. What elements of symbolism are used in Part 2?

8. How does the artist respond when the attendant tells him they have admired his fasting? What happens after he dies?

9. What does the artist tell his watchers regarding the ease or difficulty of his fasting? What do they respond?

10. Describe briefly which of the three allegorical interpretations discussed in class with which you most agree.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the term "Kafkaesque." What qualities does work of this style and or mood convey?

Essay Topic 3

Describe the character of the artist. Why does he pursue his line of art? What is his satisfaction in it?

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