Essay 4 by Analy R.

7/29/2019 Essay 4 by Analy R.

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Essay 4

Can food have a different meaning? Food can play a positive and negative role in

different situations. For example, it unites people when someone is eating food with family or

friends. Likewise, it can be a negative aspect because it can create a division between people

with opposite views or ideas on food. In both “The Cathedral” and “A Hunger Artist” food plays

a different role because in “The Cathedral” food creates friendship with people, while in “A

Hunger Artist” food only brings them together to ridicule someone. At the end of both stories,

the main characters change and learn to accept people for who they are.

In the beginning of the story, the narrator’s wife invites an old blind man to their house;

“Now this same blind man was coming over to sleep in my house” (Carver 2). The narrator is not

too happy about the idea of the old man being at his house. He questions his wife with rude

questions because he finds out that he is not only blind, but also black. This infers that the

narrator is not only upset about the guy being at his house for dinner, but is also racist to colored

people.

“Back then the hunger artist captured the attention of the entire city” (Kafka 1). People

would go to watch the hunger artists and take their children to watch as well. There wasn’t a real

purpose to go watch them but people were amazed. A hunger artist was a normal person who

would fast for a period of time and be put on display for everyone to watch him. Since he was

very skinny, people would pay money to go see him inside a cage for display.

Soon after food brought the narrator and blind man together;”when we sat down at the

table for dinner, we had another drink” (Carver 4). The narrator, along with his wife, and the old

man sat at the table to eat a meal. The narrator became considerate because he watched the old

man eat and didn’t say anything rude to offend him. He also started to realize that he was human

Mark Jacobs 12/3/12 10:07 PM

Comment [1]: Acouplethingshere.F

checkoutmycommentsinthetexttosee

howyoucanexpandsomeofyourparagra

andmakethemmorefleshedout(Remem

thecomponentsofparagraphswe’vebee

learningaboutinclass).

Thelastfewparagraphsfallflatbecause,f

ofall,I’mnotseeingalotofevidencethat

boththehungerartistandthenarratorin

“Cathedral”learntoacceptpeopleforwh

theyare—thatmakessensefor“Cathedra

butnotforahungerartist.

However,inyourfinalparagraphhere,yo

makeaveryinterestingpoint.Thehunge

artistmayrejectfood—theverybuildingb

ofbringingpeopletogether—butyoupoin

outthathisperformancesusedtobring

peopletogethertoo,verymuchintheway

thatreligioussacrificeshaveinthepast.

Thisgetstothefinalpoint.Youressaydo

mentionFosteranywhere,andIdon’tsee

usehisideaofcommunionanywhereeith

Thisisoneoftheplacesyoushouldthinko..


Comment [2]: Iseewhatyou’resaying

“Cathedral,”butI’llhavetoseehowthe

hungerartistendsupdoingthesame.


Comment [3]: Say“Cathedral”sowek

whichstoryyou’retalkingabout.


Comment [4]: “Coloredpeople”is

outdated.“Peopleofcolor”isusedmore

frequently.


Comment [5]: Where’syourtopicsent

here?Whenyouchangebetweenstories,

needtoprepareusreadersfortheshiftby

introducingthequotefirstwithatopic

sentencethatisdescriptiveofwhat’sinth

paragraph.


Comment [6]: Sowhat’sgoingoninte

offood?Theseparagraphsexplainthe

premiseofeachstory(thatis,howthesto

begins)butyou’renotmovingfarenough

forwardintowhatyou’velaidoutforyour..


Comment [7]: You’remissingsomekey

stuffhere.Don’tskimoverthemealso

quickly.Iwoulduseaquotethatcomesfr

Carver’sdescriptionofthedinner.Howd

youknowthenarratorisbecomingmore

considerate?Whatdoesthestoryactually..

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and found similarities between each other. The old man and narrator started having a

conversation after the dinner. In a way showing that food can have a positive effect on

interactions with people.

“Always three at a time, were given the task of observing the hunger artist day and night,

so that he didn’t get anything to eat in some secret manner” (Kafka 1). Some of the spectators

even stayed after to watch the hunger artist and make sure he wasn’t eating food in any way. It

shows a form of disrespect because the hunger artist doesn’t eat. The hunger artist is passionate

of what he does or best known for. Once he starts eating, he will lose everything because

starvation is his talent.

By the end of both stories, the characters became understanding of each other. In “The

Cathedral” the narrator seems to be afraid of meeting new people because he had not interacted

with anyone else outside his race. Yet, he found out that the old man isn’t much different from

him because they both share similarities and have found something they are both passionate

about.

In “A Hunger Artist” the people thought it was funny to make fun or be amused by the

hunger artist. Although it was something he enjoyed doing, the people sometimes took it too far.

For example, they once offered him food and it was a form of mocking him. At the end we find

out he did it because he chose to do it and he was fasting. His goal was to bring people together

to see him in a way perform or be out as a display.

Works Cited

Kafka, Franz. "Kafka's 'Hungry Artists' Come to Life." SBS . N.p., 22 Nov. 2012. Web. 24 Nov.

2012. <http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1713777/Kafka's-'Hungry-Artists'-come-to-life>.

Carver, Raymond. "Cathedral." Religion and the Arts 2.3 (1998): 279-98. Print.


Comment [8]: Whatarethesimilaritie

theydiscover?


Comment [9]: Whatwasitabout?The

subjectoftheirconversationisimportant—

canyouexplaintouswhyitis?Hint:think

themeaningofthestorytitle.

Mark Jacobs 12/3/12 9:47 PMComment [10]: Sameproblemasbefo

where’sthetopicsentencehere?Younee

somethingtointroducethequotetousso

notsuchajarringtransition.


Comment [11]: Sohowdoesthisrefle

“understandingeachother”?Itsoundslik

mockinghim,societyisdoingtheopposite


Comment [12]: Thesearen’tthehand

wegaveyou,sounlessyouusethese

somewhere(Idon’tthinkyoudo)youdon

needtocitethese.

Essay 4 by Analy R.

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