The Ape, the Artist, the Cage

From reading Kafka's works, I get the impression that he is embittered to his personal isolation and seems to interpret it as inherent in the human condition. His works tend to present us with what could almost be considered case studies or societal profiles of his archetypal outsider characters.

The Hunger Artist is trapped by his human need for recognition and admiration; without it, he dies. In the circus, Kafka makes a point of showing the reader that the panther is treated better than the Hunger Artist. This presents us with an interesting link between animalistic ignorance, as shown by the panther, and human cognizance, which the Hunger Artist never quite rids himself of. Perhaps if the Hunger Artist had been able to shed some of the humanity that pushed him to seek admiration and acknowledgement, he may have received better treatment in the context of the story.

The ape, on the other hand, can be seen as the Hunger Artist inverted. He is able to feign humanity and socialize himself into humans' hierarchy, but he seems to remain an animal. He adopts human customs, rather than falling into them organically; he articulates his thoughts in a human way, but they are thoughts on his experience as an animal. Though he feels a clear divide between himself and his mate, the ape has no genuine interest (sexual or otherwise) in any human. This is the ape's innately animal mentality at work, which frees him from the dissatisfaction latent in the human condition. And in the end, he is content where the Hunger Artist could not be.

So it seems to me that Kafka feels contentment and comfort is never implicit in humanity, which we are imprisoned by. The concept of "freedom" seems to come with a certain distance from society and humanity - not necessarily a lower level of consciousness, as illustrated by the ape's report.