Next the diction in the story is used to make you sad and ashamed, because when the reader reads this story they feel sorry for the hunger artist, and they realize he is treated like he is nothing and gets no respect. This makes people feel bad about themselves, and they are ashamed of how humans can treat one another. An example of diction that makes the mood sad is, “…overweight head on his feeble neck,” (Kafka 872). These several words make the reader feel sad about the hunger artist because he is so weak he can barely stand up. The imagery in this sentence makes you picture a weak man that’s head is too big for his skinny neck to support which makes you feel sadness. Second, “…his body was hollowed out; his knees squeezed hard together in a self-preservation cramp, while his feet scrapped along the ground as if it were not the real ground…” (Kafka 873). Hollowed out, knees squeezed, self-preservation cramp, and feet scrapping are all examples of diction that make the reader feel sorry for the hunger artist. The author does this to put an image of what he might have looked like coming out of the cage after forty days. Lastly, “The lovely posters became dirty and illegible; they were torn down, no one thought of replacing them,” (Kafka 876). This final example of diction shows that people forgot completely about the hunger artist, and didn’t even know he was there. This makes the reader sad because no one wants to be forgotten, and thrown away like trash, and no one deserves that.
In conclusion the tone of the novel is contemptuous, and the author uses diction the grab the reader attention and makes the reader feel sad. The reason the tone is contemptuous is because the hunger artist is not respected, and is treated like he is worthless. The examples proved that few people showed him respect and cared about his well being. Next the author uses diction to give the reader an image of how the hunger artist looked and was treated. It is sad knowing how skinny and pitiful the hunger artist was and to not be respected is even worse. So when you ever see a pitiful man walking by, are you going to judge him and laugh, or will you show kindness and respect to him?