Themes In The Cellist Of Sarajevo

Steven Galloway’s novel The Cellist of Sarajevo follows Sarajevo citizens who are struggling to survive in their home during the genocide which occurred there in the 1990’s. These people become psychologically affected through living on a battleground, and in a life altering way. The very image of war is enough for most to feel disappointed in mankind, but watching your home crumble around you while being able to see the faces of those causing the destruction would likely make one lose any remaining faith in humanity. This is demonstrated in The Cellist by the agency of the bystanders

“Arrow will keep this man alive. This wasn’t ever really in doubt but neither had she decided she

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.

To begin with, the internal conflict of Arrow is expressed through, the battle of her memory and

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

The inner change of mankind is always caused by the irresistible change of situation, which influences people’s cognition. Moreover, due to the change of perspective, people are more likely to accept things that they have resisted before. In the novel Boo by Neil Smith, the main character Boo is an isolated person who believes science . After he is shot at school, he undergoes tremendous changes after his death and starts his new life in heaven, which is a surreal place for Boo. Through the transition of death, Boo changes his perspective of life, allowing him to change himself through friendship and love, which are absent from his living life.

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)

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.

The majority of characters from war-time novels often resort to substance abuse as a way to cope with the horrors of war. In Joseph Boyden's Three Day Road, the young Cree soldier, Xavier, uses excessive amounts of morphine to forget the bloodshed he witnessed on the battlefield. Similarly, Mrs. Ross, the mother of the young Canadian soldier Robert from The Wars becomes an alcoholic as a way to deal with the departure of her son to war. However, in Steven Galloway's “The Cellist of Sarajevo,” the primary characters, although affected by war, employ a different strategy to come to terms with and survive the war, and to regain their moral values and identity. In this novel, music is employed as a tool of healing and rebirth. Specifically, Arrow, Kenan, and Dragan use the music of the anonymous cellist to reclaim their sense of humanity, compassion, and self-identity and move forward despite the ongoing war, much like the mythical Phoenix rises from the ashes in rebirth.

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..

Since the Baroque era, the concerto has played a vital role in the music world. According to the Merriam Webster dictionary, a concerto is “a composition for one or more soloists and orchestra with three contrasting movements.” There are two main types: the concerto grosso and the classical concerto; both will be discussed later. While the term concerto is relatively easy to understand in context, when put into use the term becomes more complicated to define.

Arrow is about a rich, promiscuous young man named Oliver Queen, who becomes stranded on an island for five years before finally being rescued. After his return, Queen becomes a vigilante trying to protect his city, Starling City, against the corrupt businessmen that live there. Before being able to properly assess Queen from a psychological point of view, we must understand his character before, during, and after his accident. Queen suffered from many terrible psychological problems during his five years "alone" on an "abandoned" island and after finally returning home.

Gypsy music Peasant music - the real Hungarian folk music - is not Gypsy music. Peasant music certainly had influence on the songs and playing of gypsies who lived in Hungary and performed in ensembles, though. Gypsy music used to be the basis of all generalizations about Hungarian music. It was Ferenc Liszt's monumental error to state that Gypsy music is the creation of gypsies. The so called 'gypsy scale' points to a southern oriental (Arabic) origin and may possibly have reached Hungary through the gypsies. This music falsifies Hungarian folk songs by introducing augmented intervals of the Gypsy scales, which scales were never used by peasants.

Many years ago, one mistake changed the course of the world through the actions of one man. “The wheels of destiny were driving history through the movements” (The gun shot that reshaped the world) and actions of a young Serbian man, Gavrilo Princip, let to courses that caused the first world war. Depicted in the movie Sarajevo, the story of Princip and Prince Archduke Franz Ferdinand epitomizes the butterfly effect in human history. Ever since I first heard the story, I have been trying to reconcile the monumental impact of this one man and this chance event on the world as it exists today According to the production.

In any event, the affair had a catalytic effect on Robert's music. He had the