Cellularist Of Sarajevo Quotes

If you could revisit any moment in your life and change the decision you made, would your identity be any different? Could your identity, the values and beliefs you hold, be altered or erased by one drastic event? One novel, which explores the development one’s identity is Steven Galloway’s The Cellist of Sarajevo. Galloway clearly explores identity through the three main characters of the novel; Alisa, Kenan, and Dragan, conveying a clear lesson about hope through the experiences of the three characters. Though the conflicts from the siege cause them all to deviate from their personalities before the siege, they eventually all revert to their original personalities, regaining their identities.

For example, when the mortar shells landed near the brewery, a man asked Kenan "Have you seen my dog?" (Galloway, 161), Kenan simply answered "No" (Galloway, 161), without even trying to help. Not only that, when fear negatively affect him more, he "scrambles to the end of the bridge without stopping, adrenalin pushing him to [the end]" (Galloway, 171), then states to himself that " He's tired of carrying water for [Mrs.Ristovki] who has never had a kind word to say to him" (Galloway, 171). Humanity has completely disappeared in Kenan.

The poem “Invictus” by William E. Henley, and the novel Anthem by Ayn Rand, both have common themes that discuss the importance of individuality. Each of the themes that these works have to offer will be discussed throughout the paragraphs of this essay.

In Steven Galloway’s The Cellist of Sarajevo, one of the three characters in the book, Kenan, goes through profound changes after witnessing and experiencing many events that happened during the siege. Although there aren’t really any changes in the way he actually acts, by the end of the book we see that the way he thinks has changed from how he did in the beginning, specifically in terms of his neighbour, Mrs. Ristovski. Kenan is a busy man, being a husband and a father of two children. He feels entirely responsible for his family and is paralyzed with fear every time he must go out of the house to get water for his family. However, he feels that he has to conceal his fear because his children “must not see him like this.

In the memoir A Long Way Gone, author Ishmael Beah describes his survival journey as a lost child in his country, because of the civil war in Sierra Leone, then becoming a child soldier facing war daily, afterward the process that Beah went through during rehabilitation and finally in fear escaping the civil war. Ishmael Beah emotional journey has three stages of development in which Beah utilized music. In the first stage, Beah uses music as a survival mechanism to keep sane and safe. In the second stage, begins when he loses his brother and friends, Beah reaches the lowest point with the loss of his entire family again, some friends, music, and being forced to join the war. In the final stage, is the process of rehabilitation where Beah connects with music once again. Ishmael Beah exposure to music at a young age stayed with him throughout his life. (Beah, 2007, p. 5-218)

This analysis have shown me how important is to be faithful to your own principles, even when the world takes you to unknown. The knowledge of the society in which each one has to life is what shows that opposed positions that seem irreconcilable are part of a whole and as Collin’s suggests, each individual has to decide what is right or what is wrong in the society and then take a position and try to change what is wrong. (Hentrhone,

The narrator, a teacher in Harlem, has escaped the ghetto, creating a stable and secure life for himself despite the destructive pressures that he sees destroying so many young blacks. He sees African American adolescents discovering the limits placed on them by a racist society at the very moment when they are discovering their abilities. He tells the story of his relationship with his younger brother, Sonny. That relationship has moved through phases of separation and return. After their parents’ deaths, he tried and failed to be a father to Sonny. For a while, he believed that Sonny had succumbed to the destructive influences of Harlem life. Finally, however, they achieved a reconciliation in which the narrator came to understand the value and the importance of Sonny’s need to be a jazz pianist.

The author portrays the message of standing for what you believe is right, never feeling pressured to conform to the attitude, values of other individuals. This is shown through Anthony who chooses to conform to Lance’s peer pressure yet consciously aware of the outcome of invading another person’s privacy. Although Anthony has good moral values, he fears Lance and therefore is unable to bring out the

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.

Since the start of the Sierra Leonean war in March of 1991, innocent civilians have been the primary target of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF)’s wrath. The people of Sierra Leone have faced significant problems due to the invasions and attacks by the Rebel Forces and are the main population that is being affected by this group’s disapproval of the government. One person who experienced profound changes in her life due to the start of this war is Mariatu Kamara, a victim of a Rebel attack that cost her both her childhood and her hands. Throughout her memoir, “The Bite of the Mango,” she is faced with numerous traumatic events and meets an abundance of people who were very significant in her life and some of whom helped her survive the war. Kamara also gives the reader a variety of themes to use as a foundation to understanding war life, which also serve to help readers learn more about life, grow as people, and rise above to help others in need. Mariatu Kamara has not only changed the lives of people all throughout Sierra Leone by giving them a voice and an outlet to share their experiences, but has also proved to be an inspiration for countless amputees around the world.

In Steven Galloway's The Cellist of Sarajevo, a young female sniper, Arrow, nearly loses sight of her own true self-identity as a consequence of being forced to assume the role of killer under the pressure of the ruling forces. However, through the restorative powers of the cellist's music, which acts as a tool for her inner healing, she is finally able to regain her former moral values, prior to her eventual death. This young female character, previously a skilled member of her university's target shooting

One of the most impertinent characteristics of a happy life, is the loyalty to one’s morals and ideals. In order to thrive, one has to know what they stand for and not allow anyone to change their path in life. While growing and changing, their path may shift on its own accord, but it should never be moved by anyone other than the person who will follow it, as others who try to change it, will not walk it, and will not suffer any detriments to their life. Sandra Cisneros and Kathryn Stockett, authors of The House on Mango Street and The Help respectively, stress that loyalty to one’s character, despite outside forces, is important to one’s growth.

Cruelty is a topic that can function as a major plot point in stories and connect to several different literary elements. An author may use cruelty to express a theme, or a message about the real world, exemplified through a story. Cruelty could also be used as a device in order to progress plot. Even as a character trait, cruelty can give the reader more insight into a story’s plot, setting, or even the characters themselves. In Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner, cruelty helps to communicate different themes, progress the plot, and give insight into characters.

Run and hide or stay and fight. The fight or flight response is the first thing the human brain activates when there are threats to its survival. Steven Galloway’s novel, The Cellist of Sarajevo, puts the main characters in many situations that require quick decisions to ensure survival. This instantaneous response is central to the one of the characters in the novel named Dragan. He is an elderly man whose family has escaped Sarajevo while he stays behind. Though he has the support of his sister, he depends almost entirely on himself for survival. The choices he makes to ensure he lives reflect the response he has to the effects of the war. At the beginning, Dragan isolates himself from everyone including friends because he is afraid of losing them. He is afraid to cross an intersection and waits for hours out of fear of death by the snipers of the men on the hills. A transition begins in his mind when he witnesses the consequences every choice carries when his friend Emina is shot by a sniper. By the end of the novel he decides that he will live in the battle-torn Sarajevo however he chooses and not be intimidated by the men on the hills. Dragan uses the power of choice to hide and be fearful, although by the end of the novel, he chooses to be brave and have hope for the return of the Sarajevo of his memories..

In short, Herman Melville’s story “Bartleby, the scrivener”, tells the tale of a successful lawyer hiring a new copyist and the challenges he faced with his new hire. Initially, the new hire, Bartleby, was extremely driven and very efficient. He had a great work ethic, and had an extraordinary output of writing for the head lawyer. On the third day Bartleby stunned his boss by preferring not to comply with his boss’s request. Bartleby’s refusal to comply was at first directed at anything outside of his copyist responsibilities, but gradually shifted toward refusing to do anything including his responsibilities as a copyist. Upon further analysis into Bartleby’s descent from a productive scrivener, to utterly useless in the office. I have found a connection between the people that isolate others because of differences, and the people that choose to stray away from “normal behavior”. This impacts the isolated person, people are negatively impacted when they live in isolation and have little personal and emotional connection with others. Without any emotional connection or contact with others, humans lose their purpose in life, or become useless like in Bartleby in the office.