Stragnell suggests that the hard lot which befel the principal character of Hamsun's Hunger was not due, as might superficially appear, to the adversity of circumstance, but to a cardinal trait in his

personality—masochism—which made him reject the actual possibilities of success and indulge in conduct that infallibly led to poverty. This trait Stragnell then connects with the childish wish for dependence on the father.