Week One

I believe Kafka wanted to show the readers that silence can be as deadly as screaming. The sirens were known for their vicious noises but this did not stop them from controlling themselves. This is how we should treat others. We should have a sense of control towards the people we care about. Kafka used silence as a way of portraying people not getting the attention they need from a higher power. I believe Kafka was in a situation where he did not receive any love; the only thing he was conditioned to was silence and this silence broke him down. He used Ulysses as a way of showing the readers that if you are strong willed and well prepared, you can overcome any peril in front of you. Tolstoy focused more on greed and how being greedy can lead to your death. Although Pathom was poor, he had ambition to make himself better. Unfortunately, he was very unappreciative of the progress he made so much that he went on and on to acquire as much land as possible when in reality, the only land he attained was the six feet of his grave. I would say the story by Tolstoy is more relevant to a contemporary reader because greed is something we all have shown in some point of our lives. Especially in modern day society where the only goals people set are based on acquiring wealth. What many do not realize is that money is just paper and it can only buy material goods. I believe that if more people sought out happiness and appreciated what they have rather than continuously going out of their way to accumulate money, there will be less people similar to Pathom who died because of his greed. Although Kafka's story was enjoyable, I loved Tolstoy's story a lot because it was more relatable to modern day society. A lot of people seek money and they never seek true happines. Pathom based his happiness off of the land he acquired. This only led to his death and all the time he spent on acquiring land went to waste. Material goods do not fuel happiness whatsoever in my opinion because once you die, you have no use for it anymore.