施明正於1980 年創作短篇小說〈渴死者〉，經由勾勒獄中所見到一位良心犯求死若渴的過程，以呈現當時威權政治壓迫下的人性扭曲。本文即就施明正的短篇小說作品〈渴死者〉進行討論，經由分析小說中所描繪的環境侷限及心靈折磨，顯示政治牢房的壓迫，猶如「金屬哀鳴下的白鼠」。探究作者所運用反諷口吻的寫作筆調，一窺其對政治壓迫所進行的諷刺。並觀察文中「渴死者」的人物塑造，作者所描寫其行為過程和心理變化，尤其針對「渴死者」一心求死的矛盾心態，企圖展現出在時代囿限下，人們扭曲的性格與心理的掙扎，以表達對「渴死者」如何對政治進行反抗。期望藉由以上分析，嘗試發掘施明正藉由此篇作品對於政治進行的控訴。

Shih Ming-Ching finished a short story “thirst” in 1980. He tried to outline prison to see the death of a political prisoner wants, change performance under for authoritarian political oppression then humanity. This paper will analyze Shih Ming-Ching’s short fiction“thirst”. Observed novel mentioned limitations of the environment and the torture of the mind,and tried to show oppression of political prison. Explore positive description of the negative tone of the use of writing style, seen the irony of political oppression. Observe the protagonist is shaping, and the depiction of character behavior and psychological. In particular, the ambivalence for the character you want to die, people twisted personality and psychological struggle to express the character of political revolt.Try explore Shih Ming-Ching is a complaint by in this work for political.