The World's Pickiest Eater

In the Starving Artist, a man is depicted who has devoted his entire life to learning the craft of fasting. It states in the story that he is capable of going up to forty days with no food, and that he cherishes it when people admire him for his accomplishments. He is described as extremely malnourished, although he never complains, or cries, but is instead very stoic and calm. When I was reading this story through the first time, I was impressed with the feeling the author used to describe the different stages of the Hunger artist’s life. There was a high note, where he was on top of the world, and many people had respect for his craft, even though there were quite a few who thought that it must be fake. Take that in contrast with the end of the book, where he sits in a cage at a circus-like event, where people pass by and offer mostly pity, with much less of the adoration that he used to enjoy. We think that this story is going to be one that maybe celebrates his accomplishments, then we think that it is actually about the Hunger artist’s downfall, as his popularity wanes. At the end of the story, however, the piece actually becomes quite satirical and funny in my opinion, when with his dying breath, the Hunger artist explains that the only reason he enjoyed fasting, was because he could never find a type of food that he actually liked. We have this amazing backstory explaining the life of this mysterious and obsessed man, wholly dedicated to his craft, only to find out at the end that all of the self-control and diligence we thought he had was only a product of how picky of an eater he was. Which basically makes the reader lose all respect they once had for him, as it seems less impressive when the only reason you don’t eat is because you don’t like the food.