The Message of Hunger
So in Passus seven, we meet another characteristic of the dreamer's psyche personified in the form of Hunger. At first, he preaches that he feeds the poor simple foods, and when Piers Plowman asks about the sick workers, he says that those who work will get their way eventually, if they just hold out, and to ask for more would be glutenous. He then asks for a meal, and although the town provides for him, he continues to eat right into the harvest, and despite the fact that the poor finally have food they refuse to eat cheap stuff and go straight for the fancy liquor and white bread. I was very intrigued by this section of the passus, as I was kind of confused. First off, was hunger the manifestation of the poor, and so when the narrator says that the poor did not eat simple food, it is representing Hunger? If this is the case, perhaps the message that is trying to be conveyed here is that those in authority, specifically the church, are manipulative and are playing off the bible's words for their own gain, as Hunger now receives the best food the town can offer. This is exactly what was seen in the intro, as the clergymen abuse the poor and then skip town to get more money. even supposing that the Hunger and the poor are a separate entities, it is abundantly clear humans need more than the simple things. Humans are always craving for more, and this is manifested directly in Hunger, where is incessant forces the people to shell out more and more food for him, allowing the poor to be fed more lavishly. I am unsure though of the full meaning of this text, and as a result may be missing some of the minutia of the text that would make the message more clear.
I don't think this passus was referring to poor people; I thought it was lazy people. I remember Hunger talking a lot about how people will eat what they work for, and those who don't work shouldn't be allowed to eat, so I don't think poor people represent Hunger here.
ReplyDeleteI think that Hunger does not represent the poor only but more humans as awhole. The desire for more and not being satisfied is an experience that most hmans share. To me, it seemed that Hunger was meant to show the flaws in how humans interact.
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