In “living with music” Ralph Ellison describes how unpleasant music surrounds him, thus disrupting his peace. To the left who’s blasting lullaby music, to the right with a jukebox playing from a restaurant. Windows which caught city sounds and to the back of the wall with preaching drunks and the neighbor who’s singing seeps through the ceiling. He describes his experience as if he was in a box, trapped, with each side of the wall filling the room with incohesive sounds, further tormenting him. In order to combat the sounds, Ralph bought an audio system that he used as a weapon which he used against his neighbor. His experience has led him to enjoy the music and longed for his previous apartment.

“In those days it was either live with music or die with noise…”

Ralph was trying to convey that music is a part of our lives and in order to enjoy them one must appreciate the sounds to be one with them. 

One similarity between Ellison’s essay and ways of hearing was that both of them took place in a city. It talks about how a sound create a space different from others and how it can terrorized/occupy a space creating s special meaning that only that place has