The Symbolic Use of Hunger in Literature :: essays research papers

The symbolic use of hunger in literatureThroughout history, both work force and women have struggled trying to achieve unattainable goals in the face of close-minded societies. Authors have often used this theme to develop stories of characters that face obstacles and are sometimes unable to overcome the stigma that is attached to them. This inability to rise above prejudice is many times illustrated with the metaphor of hunger. Not only do bulk suffer from physical hunger, but they also suffer from spiritual hunger a need to be full of life. When this spiritual hunger is not satisfied, it bum destroy a life, just as physical hunger can kill as well. Characters such(prenominal) as Edna Pontellier of Kate Chopins The Awakening, Hugh Wolfe of Rebecca Harding Davis Life in the Iron Mills, Jane Eyre of Charlotte Brontes novel, and the cleaning lady being force fed in Djuna Barnes How It Feels to Be Forcibly Fed all suffer from an insatiable hunger, which, in most cases, ultimately is not fulfilled. Poets such as Anna Wickham also describe the plight of humanity using hunger as a means to illustrate the feeling of deprivation. Although all of these characters come from different walks of life, they share a common struggle. Edna belongs to upper class Creole society, Hugh Wolfe is a poverty-stricken immigrant laborer, and Jane Eyre, an orphan. These characters lived during the middle to the end of the nineteenth century, in completely distinct worlds, all the same all had their creativity stifled by society. Similarly, Djuna Barnes poem of the British muliebrity who goes on a hunger strike in an attempt to get the choose and Anna Wickhams poem The Affinity describing the angst of a deprived married woman, both depict women who lived during the early twentieth century and, although different, were both suppressed in some way.Edna Pontellier was a woman who was forced to comply with the rules of Creole society, but, in being reluctant to do so, found herself in a world where she felt trapped. She saw how women were supposed to stand but did not have that behavior instilled in herself. She felt confined by her husbands expectations, and did not want to live out the typical role of wife and mother. When Robert came into her life, she began to feel that she was being awakened. She was beginning to experience life in a new light and the hunger for change began to emerge.