Brief summary of Jayanta Mahapatra's poem Hunger.

Hunger is one of the most intellectual and satirical poems ever written by Jayanta Mahapatra. Jayanta Mahapatra is an Indian English poet whose poetry depicts from experiences and also the personal memories. He is also a realist, an imagist, a modernist, and also a post modernist.

       The poem depicts two kinds of hunger. One is the hunger of food and another is the hunger for sexual amusement. The poem is opened with an encounter between the poet protagonist and a fisherman.The fisherman is trying to trap the man to his place for a deal. The weight of the flesh can not endure by the man. This weight of flesh seems like he is occupying an extensive load of something ineffable and its better to exude off the load. The fisherman talking about some girl. He asks the man that if he want then he can supply. He says it without care as if he has no concern for the girl. He uses the girl like a toy to play with. He has no money and also he is hungry.  So, he wants to earn some money for buy food. At this moment his face says one thing and his eyes another. His eyes depicts his helpless condition, dreadful misery of his life.

       The man's  conscience continuously bothers him and he faces it with a weight upon him, symbolizing the weight of guilt and regret. Though he walks after him across the shore, he feels an immoderate tension in his head. If the man want then he can refuse the offer and turn back. But he remains wordless. The fisherman's despair seems to raise.

            When he reaches the fisherman's house, he sees it is like a shack. Inside the shack there has not electricity and also not enough space. There has only a lamp with a flickering flame and the walls are covered with smut collected for a long time, which took the poet's attention. This description shows the miserable condition of fisherman's life and also his family's.

              After that the fisherman discloses that his daughter has just turned fifteen and the poet protagonist realize that the girl he was talking about is his daughter. This moment makes the poet protagonist speechless. The fisherman then asks the poet protagonist to 'feel' her. Here 'feel' means the fulfilment of sexual desire and also sexual pleasure. This truth gives the poet a huge shock and he sees through the fisherman's craftiness. The fisherman is the father of this girl and he is using his daughter's body to earn money for food. The girl  looks like 'long and lean', her age can be judged by her rubber-like skin and malnourished physical appearance. Then the girl opens her 'wormy' thin legs wide, the poet protagonist feels the hunger, the hunger for food which brings this father-daughter into this business.

          This poem depicts the dreadful, miserable life of the fisherman and his daughter. It also depicts the harsh truth of the society that there has no work for the poor people. That's why they choose this type of business for earn some money. It is the real character of our society.