Andrew Hale Pearls Analysis

In literature, it is common for authors to apply different stylistic techniques in order to assist in providing the readers with a message. This idea is prominent in Steven Galloway’s The Cellist of Sarajevo, a novel which follows the story of three characters in the war-torn city of Sarajevo. Despite the fact that the characters never meet, they are each unified by a cellist and the song he plays for twenty-two days to honour the citizens who lost their lives while waiting in line for bread. Throughout the book, a recurring idea is that of hope for the future of Sarajevo, which is shown through the contrast of symbols from the beginning of the novel to the end, the cellist himself, and the adagio that the cellist plays. It is evident from the meaning created through objects and people that Galloway is able to use symbolism to enhance the idea that a city which once was destroyed can still be repaired.

Music has always been regarded as an art of high importance. The word itself originates from the Greek word mousike meaning “of the muses”, the group of nine Greek Goddesses who regulate the arts and sciences. It has often been used as a way to heal mental and emotional pain; “music speaks directly to the body through intuitive channels that are accessed at entirely different levels of consciousness from those associated with cognition” (The Music Effect.24). In Jan Johnson’s Soul Wound, Johnson discusses the historical trauma of Native Americans and the rage that is associated with it. This rage, as she later states, “is generally turned inward and expressed through depression, anxiety, substance abuse, and suicide, and manifested externally within families and communities through domestic and other forms of violence” (Johnson.226-227). In Wabanaki Blues by Melissa Tantaquidgeon Zobel we see this rage internalized and portrayed in the depression of both Mona and her mother and depicted in their family dynamic through the neglect of Mona’s mother towards Mona. Mona, as well as other characters in the book, utilize music as a form of therapy to heal the soul. The characters in Wabanaki Blues utilize music to heal in ways that parallels Bob Marley’s Redemption Song and the Rastafarian religion.

In The Shoe Horn Sonata, responders are thrust into the lives of a nurse and a student with Misto’s effective use of distinct images to convey the disparity. The fall of Singapore signified the end of the British domination, which was a pivotal moment in the lives of Sheila and Bridie. “The British Empire teetered and fell…” is shown through the projections of images of the Japanese soldiers and the “The Banzai flag”, which is juxtaposed with the singing of the famous British hymn Jerusalem, a patriotic song of England’s greatness, to expresses the initiation of the loss of intense faith for England. “It lay there like a wounded animal, spilling oil instead of blood…” floating next to a disaster, Sheila describes the submerging ship that she was

This New York Times article by Adam Higginbotham revolves around the well-known skeptic, James Randi, who previously held a million-dollar reward for those who could successfully prove existence of the paranormal. Higginbotham explores the life of Randi and the origins of the prize, including brief accounts of contenders for the million dollars. Throughout his life, Randi has worked to ensure that paranormal belief is not a product of misinformation and as such, he considers himself to be a scientific investigator rather than a debunker. This presents the argument that he hopes that the contenders for his prize will provide genuine evidence, but this is combated by the fact that everyone who has applied for it has failed the test. This could

Steven Galloway’s novel, The Cellist of Sarajevo, is a mesmerizing representation of a city under siege, the courageous small acts of humanity that come to renew it using liberating grace notes of one musician. Set during the horrendous siege of Sarajevo in the mid-1990’s, Galloway highlights each characters perspectives in extensive detail and empathizes empathy using quotations. Galloway’s character Arrow emerges the feeling of determination and the willingness to fight on through the siege of Sarajevo, whilst seeking to find change in herself.

Music is known to leave its mark on people helping them to overcome challenges in their lives or to give them courage to defy the odds. In one’s daily life, music is normally taken for granted or is seen as nothing special. As ordinary as it may seem, music can convey emotion in times when the body is numb or all hope is lost. Similarly, in The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway, the cello’s music gave people hope and determination to live their lives in spite of the rampant siege around them. Therefore, music very much impacts the lives of the principal characters Dragan, Kenan, and Arrow.

According to the speech, William Lane Craig claimed on how God does exist and also why God existing is considerably more liable to be valid than God not existing. Despite the fact that he is Catholic, he opened his verbal confrontation by saying that he would "approach today evening time's question rationally, from the outlook of reason and contention." Inside his open deliberation, he obviously plots his reasons with reference to why he trusts God exists. He likewise says that the calibrating of the universe to make everything around is in the way that it is could be because of normal causes, shot, or outline. One other real point that he made was that numerous researchers take the Bible as a precise wellspring of things from that time. This would incorporate Jesus becoming alive once again, which is impractical as we probably are aware it. Be that as it may, the emotions the followers felt and recorded must have some legitimacy, particularly if

The theme of this story can be expressed as a story of suffering and racism. Though the theme may be thought of as just about a young boy who gets himself in trouble with drugs and tries to redeem himself by his passion of music; it

A Bedouin is a nomad and a nomad a wanderer. Nathaniel Mackey seems to wander far and away in his Bedouin Hornbook, a series of fictional letters addressed to an “Angel of Dust” and signed by the ambiguous “N.” N. interprets passages of improvisation, analyzing others’ musical expression in surprising detail to the point that his unquestioning sincerity and self-assurance are almost laughable. That N. can glean meaning from music in such a direct and certain manner is problematic because his tone implies that there is only one correct interpretation of music. In addressing the issue of how music conveys meaning, Mackey seems to wander in two disparate directions. After asserting each seemingly

‘Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes’ by Paul Simon is a piece for a folk/rock band with a world beat feel to it. This song portrays a story between a poor boy and a rich woman. The piece being composed in 1986, the modern era, has its focus set on individual expressionism. The composer achieves this through the songs aesthetic expression and his unique style of writing. This has been influenced by previous styles, and in turn has influenced concurrent musical styles.

Ossie Davis once said, “Any form of art is a form of power; it has an impact, it can affect change, it can not only move us, it makes us move”. Similarly, The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway tells the story of how three individuals Arrow, Dragan and Kenan suffering from the unrelenting and ruthlessness of war are impacted by one musician’s art. All three characters suffer from the war in different ways, but the art in the form of music finds a way to connect them all. Galloway’s novel illustrates that art helps lessen the suffering of those facing the brutality of war as the cellist’s music provides healing of the spirit, mind, and body. The cellist’s music provides hope and inspiration to the people of Sarajevo that they will be able

The novel is able to share how music is of great importance and is able to affect people’s moods and thoughts.

In this essay I will attempt to underscore and celebrate Simone’s activist efforts through song and demonstrate the messages in the music about race, gender, and class.

Kino is beginning to realize how at first the pearl seemed to have brought fortune and good to his family, but it really had only brought evil to the family. By the end of the story, Kino and Juana have lost their son, Coyotito, and they wish things were back to the way they were before they found the pearl. Kino then throws the pearl back out into the ocean where he had found it: “And the music of the pearl drifted to a whisper and disappeared” (90). The music disappearing as the pearl sink back into the ocean symbolizes the evil leaving the family: now that the pearl has left, so has the evil. Kino now understands that their “wealth” has brought nothing but evil and has destroyed both himself as well as his family. Not only does Steinbeck use the motif of music to express the theme that good fortune, wealth, and prosperity steer even the most innocent of people towards a path of evil and corruption, but he also uses the motif of light and dark imagery.

Kino no longer saw the pearl as “beautiful, rich and warm and lovely” (19), but rather “gray and ulcerous” (89). The melody that was “glowing and gloating and triumphant” (19) was now twisted, “distorted and insane” (89). Because of people imposing their selfish desires on the pearl, it was ugly to Kino. He, through the death of his son, understood that the people of his village had corrupted the pearl with what should have been a beautiful, elegant means for a better future. However, once Kino and Juana threw the pearl back into the gulf, it “settled into the lovely green water…the waving branches of the algae called to it and beckoned to it” (90). The pearl becomes destructive and dangerous when it is entangled with notions of material value. However, it is returned to its original beauty only after it is thrown into the gulf. Kino’s action of throwing it back into the ocean represents him finally rejecting the greed that consumed him.