Thesis: In Steven Galloway's “The Cellist of Sarajevo,” the city is symbolic for the occurrences in its citizen’s lives. As the city's symbols for pride deteriorate with the effects of war, so do the character's symbols. Both the city and the citizen’s are faced with inner conflict, that, unless they can overcome, will destroy their very core. Finally, with the grace and healing power of the cellist's music, both the city and the citizen's lives can be seen as they previously were, and reclaim themselves.
In Steven Galloway's wartime novel, The Cellist of Sarajevo, the character's behaviour mirrors the occurrences in the city; specifically, as the city's previous symbols of pride destruct, so do the character's pre-war symbols of pride. Prior to the war, the city of Sarajevo had held a multitude of beautiful landmarks, such as the Kosevo Stadium where the 1984 Olympic Games were held, or the National Library, both of which were a source of national pride for the city. As Kenan, the young father, makes his way through the ruined city streets in the hopes of finding water for his family, he observes the now ruined National Library, and remarks on them previously being a source of pride for society: “It is all Kenan can do to look up at what remains of the national library. Though the stone and brick structure still stands, its insides are completely consumed. The fire has left sooty licks above each window, and the doomed glass ceiling that stood proud atop the building has shattered to the floor. It was one of his favourite places in the city, though he wasn't a great reader. It was the most visible manifestation of a society he was proud of...The men on the hills made the library one of their first targets, and they took to t...
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... isolating himself from others he will only lose his happiness. Dragan can step from his isolation and talk to the other citizens, finally releasing his feelings of fear and abandonment that previously plagued his inner self. The the same occurred in the city, as with the music a citizen was able to release his views of the city as damaged, and recognize that the city could be reclaimed. In both the city and the character's lives, with the healing power of the courageous cellist's music, the city and the character's lives are able to see the city and their lives as they used to be, and reclaim a portion of their previous happiness. In conclusion, the occurrences in the city is symbolic for the lives of the characters, as is exemplified through the ways in which both the city and the characters can see their former selves, with the music from the cellist of Sarajevo.
The conflict that the individual faces will force them to reinforce and strengthen their identity in order to survive. In “The Cellist of Sarajevo” all the characters experience a brutal war that makes each of them struggle albeit in different ways. Each of them have their own anxieties and rage that eventually makes them grow as characters at the end of the book. When looking at what makes a person who they are it becomes obvious that the struggles they have faced has influenced them dramatically. The individual will find that this development is the pure essence of what it truly means to be
For centuries, music has been defined by history, time, and place. To address this statement, Tom Zè, an influential songwriter during the Tropicália Movement, produced the revolutionary “Fabrication Defect” to challenge oppression as a result from the poor political and social conditions. On the other hand, David Ramsey discusses, in mixtape vignettes, the role of music to survive in New Orleans’ violent setting. Furthermore, “The Land where the Blues Began”, by Alan Lomax, is a film and perfect example to understand under what musical conditions profound ways of communication are made to stand the hard work of cotton plantations. As a result, music plays a crucial role in the sources’ cultures and its creation relies on particular conditions such as the social
Steven Galloway’s The Cellist of Sarajevo is an incredible story about strength, hope and how war changes people. The story follows three different characters and the difficult situations they are put in. It shows Dragan’s path to get bread from his bakery, the journey Kenan takes to get water for him, his family and a neighbour and Arrow, who kills enemies to save thousands of innocent citizens. Despite challenging and difficult circumstances when people maintain their morals it leads to a happier and more fulfilling life.
... way they are moving from the bad things all around them into the good, that is, the music. In this way they are in a way escaping from the darkness that is around them every day even if only for a short time. It's the only light they have. This is when the author uses the image of darkness for the last time. " For, while the tale of how we suffer, and how we are delighted, and how we may triumph is never new, it always must be heard. There isn't any other tale to tell, it's the only light we've got in all this darkness." This supports that their music is the only thing that is totally good in their lives. With all the violence and despair that is around them all of the time, music is the only way they can free themselves.
In the novel, The Cellist of Sarajevo, the author Steven Galloway explores the power of music and its ability to provide people with an escape from reality during the Siege of Sarajevo. A cellist plays Albinoni’s Adagio for twenty-two consecutive days to commemorate the deaths of twenty-two citizens who were killed by the mortar attacks on the Sarajevo Opera Hall while waiting to buy bread. Albinoni’s Adagio represents that something can be almost obliterated from existence, but be recreated into something beautiful, since it was recreated from four bars of a sonata’s bass line found in the rubble of the firebombed Dresden Music Library in Germany in 1945. The Sarajevans listening to the cellist are given respite from the brutal reality
Grace, Gillian. “Music for a broken city: The Cellist of Sarajevo is a novel-length lament of war.” Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. CBC, 22 April. 2008. Web. 28 Sept. 2011.
In the film, symbolism was everywhere. In the beginning of the film, the pictures of the city were in black and white and dull shades, giving the city a gloomy look. The camera angles made the cars in the city appear tiny, and the buildings appear very large to symbolize how small everything was amongst the city. The interiors of the office buildings and the panic symbolized that there was no way out. The soundtrack of the film was symbolic to the tension of the film. The darkness of visual composition of the lighting in the film, symbolized the darkness of the human nature in the story.
In the passage from The Cellist of Sarajevo, Steven Galloway writes the effects the cellist has on Kenan through his music. As the city lingers in war, a cellist brings a unique gift to the table. Galloway develops this gripping scene with mood, imagery, suspense and foreshadowing to make it engaging and exciting for the readers to read.
There is one universal language: the language of music. Music has a special quality and ability to bridge both social and cultural divides. A proposed theory by Dr. Gray, Founder and Director of National Musical Arts’ BioMusic Program; describes music has been around longer than human-beings have. Music is the one thing human beings from various backgrounds can relate to. Every living creature would agree. Music is heard everywhere not just among humans, but in nature as well, through the twitting of birds, winds blowing, the soft sound of raindrops against a windowpane, the ocean waves moving back and forth and the hum of the ocean rushing in a sea shell. There is no escaping it; music lives in and surrounds us steadily. While there are countless songs which confer social or cultural consciousness, this paper will analyze and address the dynamics of M.I.A.’s “Paper Planes”, video. Stylistically, the paper will examine the artist point of view, the unique use of lyrical analysis and sound description in relation to its historical, social, political and/or cultural context. This essay will also trace the lyrical analysis and sound description of song and discuss how the elements (visually, sonically, and lyrically) interplay with the theme of immigration and/or violence.
“Is the pious loved by the gods because it is pious, or is it pious because it is loved by the gods?”. So, asked Socrates of Euthyphro, in Plato’s Euthyphro. Put into modern terminology, “Is morality commanded by God because it is moral, or is it moral because it is commanded by God?”. Those who take the stance of the first horn are called moral universalists or objectivists. Those who take the stance of the second horn are theistic voluntarists or divine command theorists. This passage suggests a theistic voluntarist stance. This passage is in A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens in 1859. This passage can be found in Book III, Chapter 4 “Calm in the Storm”. The literal situation prior to this passage is that Charles Darnay is imprisoned,
The Lives of Others experimented with the use of sound as an element to convey narrative structure and did so brilliantly. The use of music is an accomplishment which celebrates the arts as an essential part of our human condition. If our right to express ourselves freely is imposed upon, we can no longer communicate our deepest thoughts and no longer discover that we are all united by the same qualities. Our need for love and companionship transcends our political aspirations or ideological shortcomings. We are human and we need other human in order to give our lives a deeper and richer meaning than just the solitary musings or an ideal world. This film took these ideas and expressed them with a piece of music which was able to break down a wall around a human’s heart and function as a symbol for the greater global instance of the Berlin Wall’s demise.
The theme of this book is that the human capacity to adapt to and find happiness in the most difficult circumstances. Each character in the novel shows this in their way. For instance, their family is randomly taken from their home and forced to work but they still remain a close nit family. In addition, they even manage to stick together after being separated for one of their own. These show how even in the darkest time they still manage to find a glimmer of hope and they pursued on.
As the child is, so will the man be… So it is in music that the songs which a child assimilates in his youth will determine the musical manhood…the musical influence upon his afterlife and also that the melodies which composers evolve in their maturity are but the flowers which bloom from the fields which were sown with the seed of the folk-song in their childhood. (Barham, 9).
The first key scene to examine is the interlude midway through the movie in which Motoko wanders through the city as music is played, inducing an almost transcendental mood. Nearly every one of those shots either shows the impersonality of the city, or some object which seems to make a statement about the separation between an individual and that individual's body, how the one does not equate to or determine the other.
Upon arrival into the jungle of vast buildings, the first thing noticed is the mobbed streets filled with taxi cabs and cars going to and fro in numerous directions, with the scent of exhaust surfing through the air. As you progress deeper into the inner city and exit your vehicle, the aroma of the many restaurants passes through your nostrils and gives you a craving for a ?NY Hot Dog? sold by the street venders on the corner calling out your name. As you continue your journey you are passed by the ongoing flow of pedestrians talking on their cell phones and drinking a Starbucks while enjoying the city. The constant commotion of conversing voices rage up and down the streets as someone calls for a fast taxi. A mixed sound of various music styles all band together to form one wild tune.