Both Gregor Samsa and the hunger artist experience a profound form of isolation from the world around them as they progress through their transformations. Gregor experiences a physical transformation into an insect, and the hunger artist transforms into a misunderstood and neglected being (a state that ends up applying to Gregor as well). Both experience increasingly inhumane treatment, despite the fact that their only wish is to work honestly towards their goal of providing for their family or to hone their craft, respectively. The Marxist definition of alienation in a capitalist society is the lack of identity a worker has with the products of their labor, along with a sense of being controlled or exploited—a description that applies to both Gregor and the hunger artist. In the novella The Metamorphosis and short story “A Hunger Artist,” Franz Kafka explores dehumanization and a subsequent loss of identity through a Marxist lens to ultimately illustrate how Gregor Samsa and the hunger artist become alienated from the people around them and their human characteristics.
A significant similarity between the two characters lies in the way that they are treated, or rather, exploited. Not only are they both forced to work long hours, due to external pressure but also self-inflicted, but they also don’t receive the proper “payment” or “reward” for their efforts. Additionally, they are alienated from being treated like human beings as their stories progress. Gregor is beaten and physically abused and goes from being addressed by name or relation to the family (brother) to being referred to as an object without a pronoun, as his sister contends that the family “must try to get rid of it” (The Metamorphosis 49) in reference to Gregor. Soon after his initial transformation into an insect, Gregor is left forgotten in his room, pushed rather inhumanely into the shrinking space like a neglected storage piece or even garbage. Even when he ventures into the common area of the family’s home, he mentions that “[a]dmittedly no one [pays] any attention to him” (The Metamorphosis 46). The drastic lack of respect and care he undergoes is appalling, and he loses his humanity in his eyes and in the eyes of those around him, estranging him from his past self and the outside world. This dehumanization is further exemplified by him simply being swept up after his death, as if he indeed is merely a pest the family kills without thinking twice.
Similarly, the dehumanization of the hunger artist is first highlighted by the fact that he is given no name, as if his existence as a unique human has been stripped from him. He, too, is treated like an object rather than a human being who struggles with his own dilemmas and is failing to be understood. Even as he struggles, particularly when he is close to death from having fasted so long, instead of helping him, his supervisor takes advantage of his suffering to draw people around the cage to be “entertained” by the hunger artist. He is treated purely as a spectacle and one denied any real value. As the story progresses with his move to the circus, he finds his status as an artist slowly forgotten and reduced to little importance, merely “an obstacle on the way to the menagerie. A small obstacle, at any rate, a constantly diminishing obstacle” (“A Hunger Artist” 6). He realizes that the only “ones who wanted to take their time looking at the hunger artist” did so “on a whim or from mere defiance” rather than understanding or genuine interest, which for him are “the more painful.” The most painful are those who simply “[rush] past with long strides, almost without a sideways glance, to get to the animals in time” (“A Hunger Artist” 6).
The descriptions of how people treat the artist are similar to Gregor’s, in that those who do stop to look at the former are reminiscent of the charwoman in Gregor’s house, who interacts with him but has no real care for him. Those who rush past the hunger artist without looking back are reminiscent of how the family ends up acting towards Gregor, a reflection of their lack of will and interest to consider him a part of their lives. The hunger artist, too, finds himself being unceremoniously disposed of when he passes away, swept up with the hay that needs replacing. The supervisor who witnesses his death refers to the latter vaguely, as he motions for people to “tidy this up now” (“A Hunger Artist”7) in reference to the hunger artist’s body, which is buried along with the straw. This vague address and way of disposing of the body is, just as in Gregor’s case, devoid of any human sympathy and further alienates the hunger artist from empathy and the human characteristics that makes him worthy of being treated with the same respect and basic humane treatment every human being deserves.
The first half of the Marxist definition of alienation can be interpreted as a loss of one’s sense of self and identity with their work, which is explored in both characters’ stories. Gregor transforms from someone who values work and making sure things are in order to a being who no longer cares about his situation, environment, and the string of consequences that can arise from his schedule and routine changing. At the beginning of the story, we hear Gregor’s thoughts about being productive and determined to start his day, saying “[i]t [is] impossible for him to stay in bed and…the most rational thing [is] to make any sacrifice for even the smallest hope of freeing himself from the bed” (The Metamorphosis 7). We are introduced to Gregor as someone who is very concerned with his work and devotes himself to it nearly all day, every day. He is so desperate to work, in fact, that he will do everything in his power to get to his workplace—even when he is hindered by external forces out of his control (primarily being turned into an insect). Yet by the last chapter, Gregor finds that his indifference to everything is “much too deep for him to [get] on his back and [scrub] himself clean against the carpet, as once he had done several times a day” (The Metamorphosis 46). In a Marxist way, he can no longer benefit from his work in life because he is physically prevented from completing his labor, thereby unable to identify himself as the family’s provider. More importantly, Gregor loses his sense of direction, personal values, and priorities in life, concerning his work and hygiene. This loss represents how he becomes alienated from what makes him Gregor Samsa and the sacrifices he makes for his responsibilities in life and with that, the core values that previously defined him.
The hunger artist also finds himself changing as time passes, introduced as someone who is “honoured by the world” but with a mood who “[keeps] growing gloomier all the time, because no one [understands] how to take him seriously” (“A Hunger Artist” 4). He finds himself asking how he can find “consolation” and what he has left for him “to wish for” (4). He feels that even though he fasts constantly, which can be described as his work, he doesn’t feel like he is getting the reward for his labor that he desires; this is quite Marxist because he feels removed from the products of his labor and therefore with how he identifies himself and his work. His work also loses the importance people once placed on it, as he sees himself “abandoned by the crowd of pleasure seekers, who [prefer] to stream to other attractions” and wonders what he is “to do now” (“A Hunger Artist” 4-5). He has always been someone who fasts, and if people don’t have interest in him anymore, how can he be successful in his work? The hunger artist even begins to “tremble at…visiting hours, which he naturally used to long for as the main purpose of his life” (“A Hunger Artist” 5). The identity he had created for himself begins to crumble around him, as he loses what he once cared about and desired, alienated like Gregor from the hope of having a purpose and identity associated with his work and life.
Along with the elimination of a human identity to the two characters, both are increasingly alienated from empathy and understanding, as not one person in their lives thinks of looking at the world through their perspective nor tries to imagine what they must be feeling. Gregor and the hunger artist are forced to give up their aspirations, hopes, and unique aspects of themselves that make them human as they are dehumanized and stripped of their identifying qualities. Through their stories, Franz Kafka constructs a powerful message on the consequences of inhumane treatment and inability to achieve success and acceptance in life, despite sacrifices made and effort put into one’s work and labor. Kafka illustrates how alienation is a frightening and isolating experience and often, as in the case of Gregor Samsa and the hunger artist, ends in tragedy.
