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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 sets the limit on the artist's fasts?

2. Who appears, blissful at having been selected for the honor, to help the artist down?

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

4. What does the impresario secretly do to the hunger artist as he lifts him?

5. How many doctors enter the cage to measure the results of the fast?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What spectacle is there when the fast is over?

3. Describe the hunger artist. What does he look like? What does he wear?

4. How does the artist feel about the breakfast served to the spectators? What is suspected about this by others?

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

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

7. What has happened to the interest in fasting at the beginning of the story? How has this affected the artist?

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

9. What happens at the circus regarding the record of days the artist has spent fasting?

10. Who helps the artist from his cage?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the theme of self-hatred and inadequacy as it applies to the story and to the artist. How does the author convey this theme?

Essay Topic 3

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

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This section contains 665 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample