English Literature Essay

Running head: ENGLISH LITERATURE ESSAY
English Literature Essay
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Author Note:

ENGLISH LITERATURE ESSAY1
Question1:
“A Hunger Artist” by Franz Kafka is a story that is based on the theme of alienation.
The story basically deals with the spiritual quest of the author. It is also a parable of the
relationship that he shares with the insensitive world around him. The story told from the
point of view of the external personage, the hunger artist, is a story of egotism. Kafka writes
“He alone knew what no other initiate knew: how easy it was to fast." (Rubinstein). The
hunger artist was so dissatisfied with himself that wanted to live and in the context of this
ironical story, the art of living was to not eat (Duttlinger). The artist seeking celebrity and
fame, has given him an ironic position, where even in the midst of the greatest achievement,
he is not even remembered by his audiences. He is caught in obscurity. Proud of his
professional achievement, the hunger artist sustains himself with the egotism of the abstruse
conflict that goes on within himself. He consoles himself at the height of his own glory, with
a slight hope that he would be appreciated and recognized of his professional supremacy. His
confession at the end of the story when he breaks down under the burden of his guilt, is an
example of altruism.
“The Nightingale and the Rose” by Oscar Wilde is a story based on the theme of the
nature of love. The student in the story who loves a girl can be characterized to be someone
with ego and egotism is something that is revealed at the end of the story when the girl rejects
the rose of the student. The student did not think twice before labelling her as ungrateful or
describing her love as silly. The student was extremely self-absorbed and it is clear when the
author says that he was narcissistically pouring over his emotional state. The girl also on the
other hand was self-centred because she rejected the student and left him for a lover who was
wealthier. What the student possesses was selfish love and a quickly – abandoned love, which