Blog Post #2
Group 2 (Jahnke-White)
Due 1/19 by 10pm.
Most of you should be familiar with the old comedic adage that comedy equals tragedy plus time. Though this applies largely to satirical barbs borne out of tragic events or semi-autobiographical comic treatments of personal events that certainly weren’t funny at the time (and thus, not these stories, per se), the relationship between comedy and tragedy is so strong that they could be described as two sides of the same coin. As group one focused on the complex role comedy plays in Kafka, I’d like group two to center their posts on the tragic, traumatic, and elegiac elements in the two stories, and how Kafka treats and presents such elements.
For literary critics such as Cathy Caruth, literature negotiates "the complex relation between knowing and not knowing." Perhaps it is this knowing/not knowing dichotomy which is compressed so eerily in Kafka, producing the profound uncanny effect seen in his short fiction. Combine this with the elegiac yearning for the past evident in both the Penal Colony’s Lieutenant and the protagonist in “A Hunger Artist,” and both are decidedly tragic tales, though perhaps not in the traditional sense.
Examine the role of tragedy and/or elegy within the two Kafka short stories assigned. Feel free to analyze Caruth’s insight in your posts, as well (note I’m not expecting you to know anything she’s said beyond the simple phrase quoted in the paragraph above).
Madelyn Rebstock
ReplyDeleteIn “The Penal Colony” and “A Hunger Artist” both written by Kafka, tragic events do occur. In, “The Penal Colony” the Officer was interested in telling the Explorer all about the function of the brutal apparatus. The Officer honored this machinery and wanted to continue to use it on people who were liable to punishment. The new Commandant is not in favor of this machine. The Officer begins to plead the Explorer to talk to the Commandant about still being able to use the machinery, but the Explorer refuses and believes it is very unjust to use. The tragic event occurs when the Officer begins to prepare the machine one last time for him to use. He lies in the machine and finds it very odd the apparatus was being quite when usually it makes loud clanking noises, and is quickly stabbed to death.
In the short story, “ A Hunger Artist” the tragic events are when Hunger Artists had a great downfall in society and when the Hunger Artist past away in his cage. He was such a huge figure in society back then. People would slowly walk past his cage with their jaws and eyes wide open. No one could believe someone could fast for that long nor look the way he did. Though everyone could not understand why he did that to himself they couldn’t help but to stop and stare.
Cathy Caruth’s quote, “the complex relation between knowing and not knowing” ties in with the tragic events that did occur in Kafka’s two short stories. While reading “The Penal Colony” I felt as if the Officer who was in charge was not going to die by the machine he loved which he did. At the same time all along while reading the story I thought the victim was going to be killed by the brutal apparatus, but turns out being he was freed by the Officer who wanted to kill him. The whole time I thought I knew what was going to happen, but tragedy came in the scene and switched everything around. In “A Hunger Artist” I felt as if I knew the artist was not going to die only because he is used to his living/ eating habits, but ends up being he did pass away. Again I thought I knew, but actually I did not know. Also, if the hunger artist yearned for his past to be a different way he could have done something else with his life and not have wasted time sitting in a cage with people always staring at his famished body.
Maggie LeBlanc
ReplyDeleteTragedy does indeed strike in both of these short stories. “In the Penal Colony” the ironic twist at the end is where the tragedy strikes. No one completely expects the Officer to die by his own glory, if you will. His inability to change is also a tragic part of the story. If only he had realized that change wasn’t as bad as he made it seem, then he wouldn’t have died by this, as he believed, wonderful apparatus that would not only torture but kill and “transform” the victims it took in. By his last act of trying to prove that the apparatus was a wonderful contraption and did bring justice to the colony , he was ironically killed. It’s sad and tragic, but also ironic.
In the other story “A Hunger Artist,” the most tragic part, I believe, is when he comes off the fast. It seems his mindset has gone from the true meaning of a fast, which would be to acquire a more disciplined habit or to honor a god of some sort, to the fame going to his head. If only the fame had not gone to his head, the hunger artist would have lived and not died. It’s interesting that this was written so many years ago when now it’s almost a popularity thing to be a “Hunger Artist,” or what I would call anorexic. He did it for fame as many of the celebrities in our day do too. It’s tragic in a sense of if he had just realized he had more worth, or could do something else with his life, he wouldn’t have literally starved himself to keep his fame.
Catherine Rabalais
ReplyDeleteThe theme of mourning the past is intertwined between the two stories by Kafka, emphasized by the characters in the stories. In “The Penal Colony,” the lieutenant reminisces about the time when the Old Commandant was in charge of the colony and embraced executions as a festival. Everything that had to do with the execution was looked upon as a happy event; children and the lieutenant fervently watched the victim’s face transfigure upon death by the infamous “apparatus.” Likewise, the gruesome physical condition of the “hunger artist” portrayed the deathly hobby of fasting. Both the Hunger Artist and Lieutenant sought attention from others in one form or another, yearning for that attention, yet not acquiring it and then suffering. The Lieutenant’s tragedy was in odd form, where he used the apparatus on himself when he realized there was no way executions would be as festive as they did in the past. He yearned for this custom to linger until the present day, but as the Traveller mentioned, it is a medieval technique and should be discontinued. Attention is also a key part in the Hunger Artist’s motivation to fast. He adored the attention he received in the past from his efforts to abstain from eating, likewise with the Lieutenant when he had self-proclaimed “front row seats” to the executions so people can see his high ranking status. It is the yearning of the past by the protagonists that cause the tragic events to occur in these stories.
Seth Pottle
ReplyDeleteKafka vividly incorporates tragedy throughout both “The Penal Colony” and “A Hunger Artist.” The Officer in “The Penal Colony” thoroughly describes the lethal apparatus to the Traveler, who is clearly uncomfortable with both the explanation of the torturous machine, and the undeserved, undefended sentence of the Condemned Man. The Officer also speaks of the past: when the Old Commandant ruled over the penal colony, and an execution was a highly sought after event in which tons of spectators attended and enjoyed – The Glory Days. He still firmly upholds the Old Commandant’s beliefs and jurisdictions, and urged the Traveler to do the same. However, after failing to persuade the Traveler to side with him against the New Commandant, the Officer kills himself in his own beloved apparatus.
“A Hunger Artist” is simply about a man whose sole purpose in life is fasting as a performance for whoever cares to watch. He is completely satisfied in not eating. In fact, he cannot stand the thought of eating even a single morsel of food. However, after years of “performing,” spectators begin to move on to other, trendier events, leaving the hunger artist with no other choice but to being to work for the circus. There, he is almost completely ignored by the crowds, who want nothing more than to see the animals. Finally, he dies in his cage.
Though one may feel sorrow for the Condemned Man in “The Penal Colony,” I cannot help but feel for the Officer. He died for what he believed in, knowing that if he could not convince the Traveler to side with him, his apparatus would soon be destroyed. The hunger artist also died doing what he loved, though it was not appreciated by the general public. Both men become martyrs in the end of their respective stories, though their actions may or may not be for the right reasons.
Adam Mier
ReplyDeleteIn Kafka’s “In the Penal Colony” and “A Hunger Artist”, tragedy and elegy are both very prominent elements.
The entirety of “In the Penal Colony” appears to be an elegy. Therefore, the role that elegy plays in this piece is, essentially, the piece itself. This is pretty noticeable from quite early on in the story when the Officer gets sidetracked in his explanation of the apparatus and starts talking about how the apparatus is the previous Commandant’s invention, etcetera. It is obvious that the Officer is dwelling on the past in that he misses the old Commandant’s way of operating because he got to use the apparatus not only much more frequently, but also in the presence of many spectators. Elegy’s role in “A Hunger Artist” is not as conspicuous as in “In the Penal Colony” because the hunger artist doesn’t really start dwelling on the past until much closer to the end of the story. It seems to me that the only role of elegy in this story is simply to signify the inevitable ending to the story - the hunger artist’s death.
Tragedy, in my opinion, shares a similar role in “In the Penal Colony” and “A Hunger Artist”, as well as a similar form of portrayal. In both stories, either the main character (the hunger artist), or one of the main characters (the Officer), dies. Their deaths, to me, represent something like the ultimate form of getting away from reality, if you will. In “In the Penal Colony”, the Officer gives up his hopes of returning to the way that things were under the old Commandant, and kills himself using the apparatus. Similarly, the hunger artist starves himself to death because he no longer has the outrageous amount of fame that he had long ago.
In “A Hunger Artist” readers meet a character who fasts in order to find fulfillment. Tragedy exists in how the protagonist meets his fate. Always hoping to break the record and gain acclaim, the artist loathes the fortieth day of his fast knowing his manager will not allow him to continue. Before knowing the fate of the artist one can begin to see the allusions of his end. A man who starves himself to prove himself will certainly starve to death. False hope manifests when the artist joins the circus. Here he believes people will again marvel at his incredible skill, though he is not foolish enough to believe he may be the main attraction. This is demonstrated in his excitement as the crowd draws near and his disappointment once he realizes his exhibit is largely unnoticed. Ultimately readers learn that the hunger artist succeeded in breaking all previous fasting records, but the cost is his life, a human life that is obscured by something as meager as straw. Upon the passing of the artist he is mourned no more than the straw when it was reaped. In a comical and tragic twist the human who starved and received nothing but neglect is immediately replaced by an animal that is well fed and receives lavish attention.
ReplyDeletePerhaps the comedy of “In the Penal Comedy” is more identifiable. The Officer continues to express his admiration for the Old Commandant and his longing for the old days when maintenance on the apparatus was a priority. Unfortunately for the Officer, the Traveller does not share his admiration for the old rule of law or his admiration for the apparatus. Not sharing the Officer’s convictions the Traveller speaks of his disapproval and without saying so calls the Officer’s methods unjust. The Officer has violated a law of the colony; the Officer was unjust when he sentenced the convicted. For this crime, the Officer must be sentenced to death by the apparatus, having “Be Just!” inscribed on his body. This is the tragedy of “In the Penal Colony”; an Officer who so blindly believed that he was correctly and appropriately punishing the convicted failed to see that his methods were too harsh and perverse until a foreigner told him and that same foreigner condemns the Officer to suffer the same fate. Comedy arises as the machine fails while executing the Officer, even in death the Officer cannot demonstrate to the Traveller the beauty he saw in the machine’s operation.
Allen Mire
ReplyDeleteBoth “The Penal Colony” and “The Hunger Artist” are marked by a tragic death in the literary sense. Deaths do not distinguish a tragedy but the cause of death does. A character in a tragedy dies from a flaw in their character. Kafka's next element, elegy, plays a very important role as arguable tragic flaw in both the Officer and the Hunger Artist. Elegies are poems focusing on a longing for the past. In "The Penal Colony", the Officer longs for the days of the Old Commandant and of the large crowds the Apparatus drew in during executions. The Officer’s memories of large crowds parallels the Hunger Artists memories of the popularity of his art. He misses the large crowds of people. Ultimately, both characters are unable to deal with the change in the world around them and decide to end their life, the Hunger artist starves himself and the Officer in the apparatus. Interestingly both consider their means of death art, but only the Hunger Artist succeeds in the way he envisioned it. The Officer gruesomely dies on the malfunctioning Apparatus. Many tragic stories by their nature contain a moral of some sorts typically about pride, wrath, ect.
Fables also contain morals but are marked by flat, and static characters and the brief, forward, approach to morality. This does not compare at all to Kafka's deep characters but Kafka's works have some interesting parallels to fables. In most fables characters are not given names but are simply known by their position, species (for animals), or other identifiers; Town Mouse and Country Mouse are good examples. Likewise no characters in Kafka's works are named, they are all referred to by their jobs or social status. We know nothing of any character but what the characters tell us and this mystery both broadens the audience and leaves the reader confounded as to what Kafka's moral, if there is one, actually is. However, every action, thought, and word leave the reader thinking that there must be some meaning but it eludes us rather than presents itself like a typical fable.
Craig Naccari
ReplyDeleteThe tragic elements in both Kafka stories seem to hinge on inevitability and hope. Both the officer in the penal colony and the hunger artist fail to accept their inevitable fates as relics of antiquated systems with no place in their modern societies. Also, both men retain foolish hope that the world which they yearn for will someday return to them and show others the errors of their ways. In tandem, these elements produce tragic figures.
Kafka introduces both narratives by immediately discrediting the craft of the (in my opinion) tragic figures of the stories. Indeed, in the first sentence the hunger artist’s place in society is explained: “In the last decades interest in hunger artists has declined considerably.” Though it takes until the second and third sentences, the role of the barbaric executions which the officer doles out is also explained by describing the disinterest by both the traveler and the community in general toward the execution. Both men seem immediately doomed, yet they do not know it.
Caruth’s relationship between knowing and not knowing is painfully evident in both men, who cling on to hope that the glory days will return and the insanity of the present will disappear, when Kafka has already illustrated their demise. While speaking of the insanity of others it becomes clear that they do not know they are the insane. This dichotomy produces the tragedy in both characters, and place the fault of rigidity as a downfall at the feet of what would normally be seen as a positive force, hope. Hope did not create their downfall, but hope makes them most tragic because they do not know they are doomed.
Jason Richert
ReplyDeleteIn “In the Penal Colony,” Franz Kofka presents tragedy and elegy throughout the short story in a variety of manners. One of the most evident ways he accomplishes a tragic theme is through his choice of words. More specifically, his descriptions of the tragic events depict a vivid scene, and draw the reader into the emotions of those in the story. In the first paragraph, his description of the condemned man as having a look of “dog-like resignation” really sets the tragic theme by portraying the man’s complete acceptance of his supposedly inevitable death. Kofka uses an elegiac structure for the story, and mixes in tragedy intermittently to complete the theme of the story. The officer, although appearing to be obsessed with the machine, is obsessed with the ways of old times, when the acceptance of this punishment method existed beyond his own belief. Tragedy ties back into the story when the officer, in an attempt to find some dignity in his own death, puts himself up for his preferred method of execution. In the process, the machine becomes faulty, and delivers to him not a dignified death, but one of brutality and certainly tragedy.
In his short story “A Hunger Artist,” Kofka once again uses an elegiac theme with tragedy intertwined. The man who fasted for a living was once the most intriguing sight around. But the people’s interest faded, as did the hunger artist’s sense of importance. Kofka presents much tragedy in his description of the artist’s new job at the circus. He described the hunger artist’s feeling toward the new job as just being a mere obstacle in the show. After the artist’s death, Kofka wraps up the tragedy with his description of the man’s replacement in the circus, a young panther that lacks nothing, carries freedom with it, and above all, enjoys its food. This replacement provides much contrast that allows the reader to realize how unfortunate the hunger artist was.
Alana Lee
ReplyDeleteIn “The Penal Colony” the tragedy first off that I noticed was that a man was being sentenced to the death penalty but his reason for his sentence was never clearly stated. As the story progressed on the characters in the story began talking, and randomly the man that was sentenced the death penalty was free right before his sentence started. Surprisingly, one of the other characters took it upon themselves to take on the sentence. The machine didn’t perform its usual procedure this time; the man ended up dying a horrible death, even though in my eyes from what I read I felt the man innocent.
In “A Hunger Artist” a man was a part of a circus and his “talent” was fasting. It seemed as though the man wanted to strive to fast for a more extended period of time. The man felt the need to do this because he thought seers no longer found him interesting, the pretty much just saw him as a skinny man. He felt as though he was only getting looked at because seers had to pass him during the circus’s intermission. The man strived to fast longer than forty days because it was easy to him. He ended up dying a suffering death. He died off the strength he had to become a the main attraction, but it never happened.
Nice fable analogy, Allen. Never would have thought of that.
ReplyDeleteGood analysis, Craig.
ReplyDeleteAs the hunger artist dreams of his long gone days of glory we truly see the pitiful state in which he is left in during his later years in life. The days of the hunger artist basking in the undivided attention of big crowds have all but disappeared. Even though nearly everyone has lost interest he continues to perform his art, hoping that one-day his former glory will return. Sadly, he resorts to the circus and is put on display as a minor attraction, only receiving the occasional audience as they are on their way to the animals on display. Perhaps the most tragic part of it all is that his art is the cause of his undoing, as the hunger artist reached his own fasting limit he dies. This made sure that he would never achieve what he wanted so badly.
ReplyDeleteThe same behavior can be seen in “In the Penal Colony” as the Officer fervently told the traveler of the old days, the days that when the colony was controlled by the old Commandant. Not the time he now lives in where people like the new Commandment no longer favor the judicial system. His passion for his beliefs brings him to the conclusion that he can no longer bear live in a world that does not share the same mindset as him. Due to this he decides to apply the last use of his beloved machine onto himself. Tragically this is not the way it actually plays out as the machine he loved so much “turns” on him and stabs him, denying him the graceful death he longed for.
Tragedy defined is a dramatic or literary work depicting a protagonist engaged in a morally significant struggle ending in ruin of utter disappointment (Webster’s II New College Dictionary). Given this definition we can immediately identify the protagonist in each selection. Beginning with “The Hunger Artist”, we have a man and his audience. Which is the protagonist, I believe I do not quite fully understand to be perfectly honest. According to the artist, the reason he reduced himself to this life is “dissatisfaction with himself”. The cause of which is never quite made clear to use. Perhaps this the effect noted by Cathy Caruth as “the complex relation between knowing and not knowing” that Kafka is apparently fond of. Switching over to “In the Penal Colony”, the effect of ambiguity is also prevalent in that we have now idea where The Explorer ventures from, why he came or where he is going. This is peculiar because he is clearly the protagonist whose moral verdict is the center piece of the story line.
ReplyDeleteSimilarly, in “the Hunger Artist” it is clear that the audience hold the power over the main character’s passion regardless of his internal motive. They hold the power to decide if his fasting a sight to be marveled and applauded. It is an interesting parallel also that “apparatus’ once similarly marveled “by hundreds” within the Colony in its glory days, but simply fell out of taste just as the Hunger Artist did following his prime. The tragedy, I believe lies in the regrettable and literal deterioration of both the artist and the apparatus. The officer represents the human element of the apparatus which, quite ironically, surrenders to time just he did after accepting its era had passed.
Kathryn Martin
ReplyDeleteKafka’s short stories “A Hunger Artist” and “In the Penal Colony” are both tragic stories. While the protagonists may not completely meet the traditional definitions of tragic heroes, both share a tragic flaw. Neither can let go of the past, which leads to their falls from glory and eventual death. In “A Hunger Artist” the faster spends his life denying himself food and displaying himself for the enjoyment of others. For a while, he is a huge attraction, but when his popularity fades he cannot stop fasting. He eventually dies alone in a cage. Similarly, the Officer cannot let go of the glory of the Old Commandant’s machine. It is falling into disrepair and soon he will not be allowed to use it at all, so he decides to use it one last time on himself. Both men die because they yearn for the attention and honor of a time which has passed. It was not mere stubbornness, however. The hunger artist genuinely could not think of a way to live without fasting. He did not know how to do anything else. The Officer chose to die because he truly believed in the work of the Old Commandant and the justice of the apparatus. If the men had been able to forget the past, or change their lives neither would have died.
Kafka is a very dark man. He seems to enjoy pain and suffering. I think he might possibly be a sadist. He is obsessed with the pain of others. In In the Penal Colony and A Hunger Artist, Kafka proves this point by having the ironic, yet tragic deaths of one character. In In the Penal Colony Kafka writes about an officer presenting a “remarkable apparatus” that ends up being an execution machine that inscribes the crime onto the criminal’s skin. The irony in the situation is that in the end, this so called extraordinary machine short circuits and stabs the officer to death. The so called “remarkable” machine ends up killing the very man that was so for the “apparatus”. Similar to the officer in In the Penal Colony in A Hunger Artist the protagonist of the story meets an untimely and brutal death. In A Hunger Artist the central character is a man who wants to become famous because of fasting for the longest time. It isn’t until the ending when the reader realizes that the man did not fast because he chose to, but because he cannot find any food that he thinks is tasty. His death is tragic because he was forced into starving himself because he cannot find the right food. Both of the stories are unnerving because neither have a moral to them. They are tragic because the two protagonists are two fictional characters who ultimately die directly because of something they believe in.
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