A Bleak Futu-no. A Bleak Present.

“Hamsun shows how our charity rides on gusts of egotism and self-flattery.”

James Wood used this quote, taken from Knut Hamsun’s Christian Perversions, in order to justify that the narrator in Hunger “wants to feel good by giving money to a tramp, even though he has no money himself”.

Essentially, our benevolence derives from our need to uphold or promote a good image of ourselves. In my eyes, this is a naive form of narcissism. After doing some research online, I came to realize that this was actually a disorder, known as Narcissistic Personality Disorder. The fact that 50%-75% of those diagnosed with the disorder are males didn’t exactly cheer me up either.

If creating a magnanimous, but false image of ourselves, is what leads to “charity”, is that necessarily a bad thing? With regard to human morals it is a blatant sin, but is it wrong in terms of helping out people? After all, the protagonist in Hunger was helping another person, and ultimately it doesn’t matter why money is being donated, but if money is being donated.

This race to improve our social standing, to purport ourselves as the most magnanimous people in our communities, can it really be true? On a global scale, I doubt it. But in small-suburban districts, I have no issue picturing two soccer moms ready to exchange blows over who’s donated the most to the local YMCA.

Now that I think of it, I’m starting to sound more like Holden Caulfield from Catcher in the Rye, thinking of peoples as “phonies”. But then again, is Holden Caulfield that different from the protagonist in Hunger? “He sins so that he can be punished, and is angry when he isn’t punished”. It seems as if he is simply sinning just to prove he can sin without being rebuked, and can thereby denounce the existence of God. Both of them share a common trait of egotism and hostility towards authority.

Yes, the characters in Hamsun’s novels don’t believe in God, and generally have a poor standard of living. Nevertheless, I have a hard time believing that our magnanimity is fueled by our desire to improve our exterior perceptions in society. If this is the case, then we most certainly have a bleak future ahead of us.

Hunger Pastiche

It was pitch black, and the throbbing in my head amplified as each second passed. I moaned and closed my eyes to alleviate the incessant throbbing, but my efforts were to no avail. All was quiet; I was surprisingly in a serene environment. Am I asleep? Will I wake up from this supposed dream? I tried to move my legs but couldn’t feel anything around me. My arms were numb, and it was getting cold. The throbbing continued.

I started to hum, tried to call out for help, but couldn’t hear a sound. I tried to open my eyes-still blackness. This could not be reality, unless my eyes had been gouged out. But what had led me to this sorry state? I don’t remember.

All of a sudden, I heard a screech and the sounds of footsteps on the pavement.  The throbbing bothered me to a great extent. I felt a slight sensation in my hand; a warm liquid was dropping into it. Was it red? No…could it be?

As the clouds parted, or what I thought were clouds, a bright light fell down on the pavement in front of me. A lady—no—a princess appeared. What a beauty, with such splendor and magnificence she walked towards me. “Salutations! I have been awaiting your emergence.” The beautiful lady did not respond, but instead took my hand and led me through a number of tunnels. They were dark tunnels, for her bright aura was the only thing I could see.

All of a sudden she stopped. This brusque halt bothered me. My exhilaration was diminishing. Where had the princess gone? Then I felt her arms around me from behind, and a slight tug on my ear. “Oh my precious let me see you once again!” We were meant for each other, this angel and I, this goddess. Oh, so I longed for a moment like this in the troubled life I led.

No, but where are you going? The sensation that had once flooded me was beginning to fade. She’s leaving. She can’t leave me. No. What is that screeching sound? Where am I being taken?

I opened my eyes. I was lying flat on my back, as if I were a mummy in a coffin. I shifted my glance to the left and to the right. Two men dressed in white were taking me into a vehicle. “Stop! Stop! Take me away form this hellish white vehicle! What have you done with the princess?”

With a final scream, one of the men placed a mask on my face. I felt hopeless, without energy, and my hunger returned.

Statement of Intent: The passage is important and interesting because it highlights the fanciful, utopian world where he can escape to, in order to get away from his unfortunate circumstances, ultimately forgetting about his starvation. This pastiche was based on pages 69-71 in Hunger by Knut Hamsun.

The shifting perception of Hunger, and the doleful "Hunger Artist".

Hunger: A feeling of discomfort or weakness caused by lack of food, coupled with the desire to eat. A hungry person: a person feeling or displaying the need for food. Would I pay to see that? No, would I care to see a human suffer from starvation, regardless of the price? Of course not. Yet people still took interest in watching the “hunger artist”, feeling his emaciated stomach or observing his idiosyncratic behavior. The “art” of hunger, is the gross, but deliberately disclosed representation of self-denial. To be able to starve yourself, for an extended period of time, requires immense concentration and determination. The hunger artist’s resolute behavior rewards him with fame, but he wants more. He wants to be the best he can be, he wants to be hungry for more than 40 days, he knows he can do it. This representation of hunger, this depiction, is what he seeks; glory, fame, appreciation, for only he has the determination to inflict hunger upon himself.

However, when the hunger artist joins the circus, the fame and appreciation he feels he deserves slowly diminishes. He is no longer an artist, nor a performer. His domain is situated next to the animals cages, is he even worth being considered a human? The countdown has discontinued; nobody takes notice of him anymore. This is not self-denial, but a putrid display of emptiness. Has he no ambition in life? For as he sits down in his cage, inflicting pain upon his body, what is he gaining? The effect of his monotonous daily routine is apparent in the size of audience. “They pass him by”. He is not a show, his profession is no longer considered worthy of a performance. To what extent must he continue starving himself? Humanity can no longer identify itself with this freak show. He has lost “his purpose in life”; there are no more visitors, his “act” is a somber sight. The connotations themselves are hunger are gloomy; therefore it’s no wonder that they freedom and overbearing aura of the panther attracted spectators. This representation of hunger is heartrending, it is the hunger we see in poverty, it is the hunger we see in those who lack access to an adequate standard of living, it is the hunger we see in those who have yet to succeed in life, it is the hunger that we see in failure.

Interestingly, the hunger artist has not changed his act. He is still starving, yet his response has changed dramatically. If anything, the hunger artist has improved, as he is starving for an even longer period than 40 days. Yet, his audience’s definition of hunger differs in the circus, and that is what leads to his lack of appreciation. After all, the representation of human behavior, the connotations, implications, and perspectives that are associated with it, are what distinguish success from failure.

Starvation: How people "distracted" themselves prior to the Internet.

The BBC article on digital distraction highlights that the limitation of technology is that it leads to distraction. Rather than focusing on one’s task at hand, various forms of technology can hinder our primary motives. For example, while typing an essay on the computer, my phone could buzz saying I received a text message, an attention-catching pop-up could appear on my desktop, and my hotmail toolbar could notify me that I received an e-mail. How is it possible to focus on a single activity with all these other distractions? The simple answer is that it is not.

Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche stated over a century ago, “we labor at our daily work more ardently and thoughtlessly than is necessary to sustain our life because it is even more necessary not to have leisure to stop and think. Haste is universal because everyone is in flight from himself.”

The young man in Hunger has an unfortunate set of circumstances when it comes to his daily life. He worries about his rent, his decomposed clothes, and the difficulty of finding his next meal. He writes unsolicited and unprofitable articles for a newspaper: his efforts are futile.

The Internet is the antidote for human discomforts such as pain, boredom, and anxiety. For the young man, hunger is his antidote; it diverts his attention from his unfortunate set of circumstances. Essentially, his hunger is a get-away from his reality. Ironically, he is presented with the opportunity to satisfy his hunger, at least for a brief period of time, but instead graciously gives his money to another man of similar economic status.

Observably, the ascetic behavior displayed by the man has significant repercussions. He is driven insane by his lack of food, but refuses to be satiated. The effects of his insanity are not temporary, but they help him to break away from his poverty-stricken reality. Through use of technology, the Internet in particular, one can put his or her troubles behind themselves, or at least distract themselves to the extent that they forget about them for that brief period of time. Likewise, the effects of starvation cloud the young man’s memory, and hurt him physically. Nevertheless, the man continues to starve himself, because his perpetual state of hunger serves as a distraction from the grief, unhappiness, and lack of hope that is present in his sane state of mind.