Anorexics and Angels Amy Pearce

In Franz Kafka's "A Hunger Artist" and in Gabriel Garcia Marquez's " A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings," an understanding of the cruelty of mankind is revealed through an examination of the themes and the characters in both of their stories. Although these stories are both written in two different styles, there are a few common threads within them that make them interesting to compare. By comparing these two stories one is able to fully understand the struggles incurred by those individuals who are different from what society considers being normal.

The first area within these stories that shares this common thread is the theme of both stories. Kafka and Marquez both focus on society's fascination with things that are different and unique. However, the theme does not stop there, because in both stories the individuals who are unique are both mistreated. In "A Hunger Artist," the hunger artist is unique because of his ability to fast for long periods of time. In fact, people in towns would pay money just to have the pleasure of watching him do nothing in his cage, but starve. They wanted to make sure that he did not eat. In fact, they even hired permanent watchers whose only task was...