As author Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well” (A Quote). The journey to find meaning and purpose in life is often found to be the greatest struggle one will endure, causing one to question his or her own identity and what it means to thrive instead of merely survive. In The Cellist of Sarajevo, written by author Steven Galloway, the war-torn city of Sarajevo sets the scene as Arrow, Dragan, and Kenan search for their identities in the most horrifying of circumstances. As the men on the hills lay waste to the city and her inhabitants, the main characters are committed to their own …show more content…
This is abundantly true for main character Kenan, as he and his family remain trapped within the war-impacted city. Feeling as though he has been robbed of his life, he fears his children will suffer the same. For Kenan, chores such as gathering water and searching for food have become life-altering decisions that he must carefully consider each day. For example, one day as he makes his way to the Brewery to collect water, Kenan labors over his decision to take six bottles to fill. Two of the bottles are for his neighbor, and he wonders whether doing the right thing is worth risking his life. In the Sarajevo of his memory, this would never have been a question. However, upon his arrival to the Brewery, a shelling begins. Afraid for his life, Kenan runs with the water for his family but leaves the bottles for his neighbors behind. Once the shelling stops, Kenan has a decision to make; he must choose to ensure his safety and return home or to choose humanity and hope by returning to the water. As Kenan says, “he thinks its possible that the men on the hills are killing them slowly, a half-dozen at a time, so there will always be a few more to kill the next day” (Galloway 54). In the end, he chooses to lay fear aside and reclaim the hope and goodness that was once
Jerra must let go of his musical life in the city, he has lost his dream. Jerra is a guitarist and a father, and now doing wood cutting to support his family. Life isn’t easy, especially for those with low income. ’Each day the young man left
... of this story is the will to survive. The will to survive is strong in all the characters though there are some who seem to expect they will die at any time. Lina is furious with herself when she stooped low enough to accept food thrown at her by the guards, but she does it anyway. Even the youngest children realize the need to endure the torture and survive. Jonas finds a barrel and comprehends that it could be made into a stove. Janina finds a dead owl and realizes that it could be eaten. This will to survive sometimes results in anger and selfishness, as seen in Ulyushka when forced to share her shack with Lina’s family.
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
Everyday individuals face decisions in which they must choose whether to do what is appealing to them or to choose a more suitable and compliable choice. In the fictional work of ‘The Things They Carried’ by Tim O’ Brien, certain characters such as Tim O’ Brien himself must face decisions similar to these. The novel demonstrates that when an individual is faced with a decision in which there is a choice that he may have to conform, the individual tends to conform due to not wanting to embarrass themselves or to not be portrayed as a coward to others. However when the individual is challenged with these types of decisions, the choice does not matter since the outcome will be what the individual was trying to avoid. That is to say that in the excerpt “The Rainy River” Tim O’ Brien was going through a conflicting decision on whether or not he should go to the war. Yet, as we see it turns out that either choice will lead to either shame or cowardice. If he goes to the war he feels that he will be a coward and that he gave up his own morals and values and accepted something he does not believe in, but if he does not go to war he will be shunned by society and will be labelled as a coward because he will not fight for his country.
The theme of this novel is to look at the good you do in life and how it carries over after your death. The moral of the book is; "People can make changes in their lives whenever they really want to, even right up to the end."
Ursula K. Le Guin wrote this short story, “The Ones Who Walked Away from Omelas” filled with several themes. The themes that stood out would be: absence of sadness, jealousy, despair, balance between good and evil, power, morality, and sacrifice. The author uses an abundance of distractions to get the audience’s attention. The purpose of this is to keep the reader entertained. In this story, it is about a happy utopia where no one understands misery. The purpose of this story is to describe misery is necessary.
While trying to adapt to the harsh and sudden war, both Arrow and Dragan, lose their humanity. The definition of humanity is the entire human race or the characteristics that belong uniquely to human beings, such as kindness, mercy and sympathy. In the novel ,The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway Arrow and Dragan have absence of humanity while trying to adapt to the sudden war. Adapting to the war causes Dragan and Arrow to diminish their humanity.
...ing identity to the point where it no longer exists. This identity can be lost through extreme devotion, new experience, and immense tragedy. Relationships with the most meaningful companions impact both main characters, Elie and Frederic. Due to the events they must encounter alongside loved ones, Elie and Frederic change completely, losing the identity that once existed. The most impactful events of any life are those that involve struggle and tragedy. Any tragic event that one encounters can significantly alter the purpose of life forever. Tragic events such as taking away what one may hold dearest, such as a loved one in the cases of Elie and Frederic. This type of loss can create a saddened, purposeless life in all humans.
The Cellist is the sole source of music in the book and, to him, it is an expression of thought and emotion. After a mortar kills 22 people, including his friends and neighbors who
If my life had no purpose, no individuality, and no happiness, I would not want to live. This book teaches the importance of self expression and independence. If we did not have these necessities, then life would be like those in this novel. Empty, redundant, and fearful. The quotes above show how different life can be without our basic freedoms. This novel was very interesting and it shows, no matter how dismal a situation is, there is always a way out if you never give up, even if you have to do it alone.
theme has a very narrow range and is, at first, built on two notes a
According to Wolf, all meaningful lives have both a subjective and an objective aspect to them. These basics can make lives important only together. The general idea is that a person’s projects and activities in the end make his or her life meaningful,
One of the characters, Dragan, who helped his wife and son escape from Sarajevo, has no hope left for himself. Firstly, Dragan's hopeless character is highlighted when he recalls the pre-war Sarajevo. As Dragan describes, "That the Sarajevo he remembers, the city he grew up in and was proud of and happy with, likely never existed" (Galloway, 33). For the people trapped in Sarajevo, like Dragan, the war is dragging on and there seems to be no end. In order to have hope, you have to be able to hold on to your happy moments, and wait for them to return. Dragan, however, cannot even remember the times that he was happy in this city. Clearly, his inability to remember the old city that he once loved dearly, shows his loss of hope. Secondly, Dragan is displayed as being hopeless as he states his opinion on what the cellist is doing. Dragan explains that, "what the cellist wants isn't change, or to set things right again, but to stop things from getting worse" (126). In Dragan's opinion, the cellist is not setting things right, since that is no longer possible. This quotation proves that Dragan now believes that the situation cannot go back to normal, and things cann...
In The Cellist of Sarajevo, by Steven Galloway, the siege forces the characters to neglect what they want and do what is required of them. This requirement varies from living with someone you don't like, to walking across a battlefield to get water, to being obligated to kill people. Interestingly, we do not value what we want to do until the opportunity is taken away from us. Perhaps Joni Mitchell says it best: "Don't it always seem to go / That you don't know what you've got till it's gone?" (Mitchell)
In conclusion, the narrator finds her sense of hope, security and faith being shattered when she undergoes trauma after she loses her husband and four year old son in a terrorist attack. She has her emotions break her down; however, she stands against them only to have her faith in society shattered once more. Finally, she opens up her eyes to reality which in turn sets her free from her misery. Overall, sometimes the truth might be painful, but knowing can be beneficial in the long run.