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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. How has the artist never yet left his cage at the end of a fast?

2. Who selects the permanent watchers?

3. The permanent watchers are a formality to reassure whom?

4. What would the children do "for greater security" while watching the artist?

5. What is the artist's cage bedecked with at the end of his fast?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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

5. What is the negative side of the hunger artist's art and of art in general?

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

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

8. How do writing and the art of hunger compare metaphorically?

9. What does the artist think of his repast? What does the impresario do to prove the artist's heroism?

10. What does the artist realize about people knowing the truth of his fasts?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What is the tense and voice of "A Hunger Artist"? Define these terms in your answer. Describe whose point of view the story follows and why.

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the decline of interest in the hunger artist's art. Why has this happened? What is the artist's reaction to the disinterest?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the different interpretations of the story "A Hunger Artist." What do each of these imply is the meaning of Kafka's work?

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