Franz Kafka once said, "If the literature we are reading does not wake us, why then do we read it? A literary work must be an ice-axe to break the sea frozen inside us." Kafka emphasizes how literature must stir readers from the coma-like existence in which they have placed themselves or which society has forced upon them. When reading a literary piece that does not bring forth this "awakening", I often find my time wasted. Kafkas's opinion rings true due to the fact that writings must jar individuals from their relaxed state and thrust them into action. Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman and Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter are two literary works that support Kafka's statement. Through the use of characterization and conflict, these works act as "wake up calls" as they express to readers how one must know himself and be true to his identity...