Existentialism 2 Essay, Research Paper

Existentialism is an effort to describe rational behaviors and thoughts in an irrational universe. Three stories that show this relationship to existentialism are “The Metamorphosis,” “The Hunger Artist,” and “The Trial.” Each of these three stories can be categorized as existentialism. Some of the primary features of these writings and existentialism are that the main character is emotionless, while everyone else in the stories acts as though they were normal to the reader. These stories also share a relationship of repeated images.

“The Hunger Artist” depicts a character that starves himself for attention. Only in the beginning does he do this though. Toward the end of the story however, the fasting by the artist is done solely for himself. When confronted about why he was doing such, the artist says that he hasn’t found any food that is enjoyable. His fasting is done then just because he can’t find anything good to eat, but also because he was finally given the opportunity to test his limits of how long he can go without eating. Throughout the entire story the artist is kept inside a cage, and toward the ending of the story, he is treated less and less like a human being.

Out of all three of these stories, the hunger artist is the most in control of his life and what he is doing. In “The Trial” the court and its officials are dragging Joseph K. about. In “The Metamorphosis” Gregor tries to take control of his life and do something about his predicament, but is unable to because of family and friends that don’t totally understand. The hunger artist at any time can just give in and open his cage to live a relatively normal life. The only problem why he cannot do that is that he is a slave to his art. And in another point of view he is also just as cursed as the main characters in the other stories. Along with this same view, Gregor and Joseph K. are the only characters actually trying to do something about their problem. Joseph K. struggles with the strange court and its ways, trying to learn exactly why he has been accused. As with Gregor he is struggling as well trying to help his family understand his problem. With Gregor though, he ends up giving up.

The truth though is that Gregor didn’t totally give up, but after living as a beetle his communication skills begin to stumble and later disappear. The way people communicate with one and another in each of the stories, except “The hunger Artist,” leaves much to be desired. With “The Trial” Joseph K. doesn’t lack any of the proper communication skills, but it is all of the other characters in the story that don’t quite come through on that part. The characters are deliberately acting mysterious and keeping information out of Joseph’s hands. Whatever answers they give are vague and don’t explain everything that Joseph asked. With “The Metamorphosis” Gregor initially tries to explain to his family what has happened and that it wasn’t as huge a problem as it seemed.