Kenan In Cellist Of Sarajevo

His family is taken to Goryann Inn which they are then tortured. They are not given food or water. The gendarmes then take them outside and march them. They are forced to stand and watch the gendarmes drink water from a clean pond. When the gendarmes allow the people to drink, the water is poisoned and the people drinking are shot. During the night, the people rest. Except, Vahan’s mother had something else in mind for Sisak and him. She tells them to escape. The boys then run to the river and jump in. They swim across and then start walking away from the gendarmes. The two don’t and Vahan is teetering on the edge of exhaustion. "My feet and head and body ached, but I would not stop or even slow down. I was Sarkis Kendarian and I was stronger than the cold, stronger than my thirst and my hunger"(56). Vahan embodies his father’s spirit for two reasons. First, his mother sent his brother and him to escape so they could live a better life while she stayed back to arouse no suspicion. She didn’t stay there so they could just get caught again, she wants them to remember their family and build their own.not But, the second reason is because he conceives his will isn’t as strong as his father’s. Except, due to him assuming this, he makes his character and vitality stronger. Every time Vahan wants to give up, he asks himself, “Would Sarkis Kendarian give

One’s humanity is not measured by what they have but what they are willing to do. If an individual shows that they will be overpowered by an opposing threat, they have already lost. In Steven Galloway’s novel The Cellist of Sarajevo, the attacking Serbians have surrounded Sarajevo and have taken away the safety of the civilians. In order to protect themselves and their fellow civilians, one must be willing to sacrifice their own safety to help others who are struggling in these times of war. By fighting back, the civilians of Sarajevo show that the men on the hills cannot control their lives. These people will not intimidate them. As a result of the main

Ian’s overwhelming heart to these people makes a great impact on their decisions towards him. Accordingly, after years of serving as Ian’s house maid, Berta is remorseful about leaving her citizenry back at Guatemala and feels dishonored. One day, as Ian has a nightmare he heads downstairs to the kitchen, he sees Berta thoughtfully thinking. However, Ian without realizing incites a breakdown of Berta stating that she is worried about the safety and quality of life her people have back in Guatemala. For example, she said “Sometimes I think the only way to free myself from the thoughts is to go back home” (Walters 164) Berta is apprehensive that her homeland would be affected greatly by the genocide and thinks that moving back there would help solve come problems. However, Ian is in a dilemma, choosing to let her go or keep her. Berta has been taking care of him for his whole life and really loves Ian, on the other hand, she had a valid reason to leave and therefore showing empathy, he didn’t hesitate to deny her choice. Giving support to Berta, Ian is left by himself, with his parents busy with work he must now continue on life faithfully.

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.

During war people go through a spectrum of feelings from hope to despair. Hardships make even the most optimistic people lose hope. In the novel, The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway, Kenan struggles to hold on to his hope as it diminishes due to the Bosnian war. Before the effects of the war impacted Kenan, when he was provided with a little window of hope he always makes the most of it, he goes through daily struggles to continue surviving and he maintains a positive attitude towards life. Although, Kenan’s hope for Sarajevo diminishes as he accepts the war as a part of his lifestyle, learns that his fate is entirely up to the men on the hills and undervalues the cellist for commemorating the dead.

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.

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..

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 reader is almost forced to look at the actions of the grandmother as being similar to that of a young child. There's not a quiet moment with her around and she never sits still. The reader tends to have a negative perception of the grandmother due to these personality traits. However, these traits are expressed in a comical way causing the reader to be annoyed by the grandmother, but also entertained.

When Kevin sees his father almost dying, he begins to think of the fatherless children in the world. He extends grace towards fathers in general by thinking how important a role they play in a child’s life, regardless of the mistakes that they might make. After thinking about fathers in general, he then thinks about his own father and as Bailey puts it, “ The caring-the carefulness-which was the belief in holding on to something worth preserving and passing on. Love. Kevin felt the tide of emotion that had been at its lowest ebb flowing back into him again. He looked to his Dad”. (259-260). Instead of remaining angry at his Dad for previous conflicts or for accidentally shooting his brother, Kevin extends grace to his Dad when he chooses instead to think and remember about all the love and caring his father has ever shown him. When he begins to feel that love for his father, his emotions pick up and that gives him the grace to keep on going without emotionally breaking down.

The theme of the cellist of Sarajevo is the psyche. Every character goes through a

First, a significant event takes place in Naomi’s life in which she portrays silence. At the simple age of 4 years old, Naomi is repeatedly raped by Old Man Gower. The next door neighbor, Old Man Gower, “begins to undress me. I do not resist.” As an innocent child, Naomi keeps silent about these events because she wants to protect her relationship with her mother; furthermore, Naomi states, “If I tell my mother about Mr. Gower, the alarm will send a tremor through our bodies and I will be torn from her.” In an attempt to keep the love and shelter her relationship, Naomi remains quiet about these horrid incidents. At the young age of 4, Naomi learns to believe that silence will guarantee no problems.

Throughout Ken’s life, his relationship with his father was distant and inconsistent. During Ken’s upbringing, his mother passed away when he was only six years old. Ken’s mother was the only family member who provided Ken with full security and pure love. She secured him with protection from his father’s cruelty. An example of this is when Ken’s father seized a tiger shark and forced Ken to touch it. Yet Ken was violently scared as he shakes his head and takes a step back while refusing his father’s demand. As a result, his father’s violence attitude emerged as he physically grabbed Ken’s foreman and pressured his hand to touch the shark. Subsequently, Ken’s mother came to the rescue and responded with a vicious slap to the father’s face (McKinney, 1999, p.24). This shows that Ken’s mother is not only known as a safeguard to Ken but she also represents a strong willed woman who opposes the ideal hegemonic masculinity. After the death of his mother, Ken was left with his abusive father as the sole parent who showed barely any form of support. A research found that children living in a single-parent household tend to obtain higher risk of abuse. Generally, single fathers are much more likely to use physical violence towards their children (Gelles, 1989). Since Ken spent most of his childhood being raised by his aggressive father. Ken narrates a negative hatred towards his father as he describes him as an irritable dangerous man who constantly displays his devil arch eyebrows and furious eyes.

She wanted to be a role model for her children and at the same time, she wanted to become friend with them. Helen valued education, and she wanted Julie to go to college and have a successful life. However, after she found out that Julie had secretly being together with Tod, the poor, unambitious man. She was disappointed, betrayed, sad. Julie moved out of Helen’s home. Later, when Helen found out that Julie and her husband Tod had nowhere to live, she let them move in with her. She is a permissive parent, yet, she cares about her children, provides them as much support as she can. Helen stayed calm when Gary told her he wanted to live with his dad for a while. I can see her heart was bleeding when she heard her son’s words. She gave Gary his father’s phone number anyway, and Gary talked to his dad over the phone and figured out the cruel fact that his dad didn’t care for them anymore. Helen wanted to comfort Gary but he refused to talk. I felt Helen’s guilt and desperation at that moment. After she broke into Gary’s room and found out that Gary was carrying the bag that contains pornography, she immediately asked Tod’s help to talk to Gary. She had a chance to talk to Tod and had learned that Tod came from a broken family. She had a better idea of who Tod was and his help to Gary gained Helen’s respect. Helen supported Tod and helped her daughter Julie overcame the tough situation in marriage. Helen

The narrator is totally crushed by the gender discrimination. She longed to be seen by her mother and her grandma. The narrator is heartbroken that her mother loved her brother more than her and failed to notice her. “When she went into Nonso’s room to say good night, she always came out laughing that laugh. Most times, you pressed your palms to your ears to keep the sound out, and kept your palms pressed to your ears, even when she came into your room to say Good night, darling, sleep well. She never left your room with that laugh” (190). Her agony can be easily seen by the way of her narrating. She does not get the affection that she deserves. She really needs the affection from her own mother, but she is not getting it. She compares the love which her mother shows to his brother and herself. This is gender discrimination can be seen with her grandmother too. She hated her grandma as she would always support her brother and find fault with her. Even though what the brother did, no matter what crime. Her mother and grandmother always supported her brother and never supported or showed interest towards