In the Kafka story, "Pallas" from his window witnesses a violent crime on the street below. Rather than warn the victim, he chooses to watch a crazed killer with a knife murder the man.

As I developed a modern day framework for my story “The Heart of Stone,” I explored how I have ‘witnessed’ death. The character "Carl" is a bitter artist who grapples with his own demons as he toils at a newspaper and moonlights as designing sets for a stage production of “A Fratricide.”