The Cellist of Sarajevo Essay Example

How A Ruined Starving City In A War For Only 3 Years, 10 Months, 3 Weeks, And 3 Days Could Affect And Harm Generations After Them  

The Cellist Of Sarajevo By Steven Galloway is an amazing story fixed with fictional characters in a non-fiction story. The characters in this novel are complex and intriguing. “It screamed downward, splitting the air and sky without effort… there was a moment before impact that was the last instant of things as they were. Then the visible world exploded.”(Steven Galloway, 2008). That is the opening of the book. It shows how dier this war is. The trauma these poor people are facing, and how would generations after this war has been finished and done with how they would still be harmed and affected. This is not only about the novel itself but also the real-life people behind the characters. For example Arrow. In The Cellist of Sarajevo, Galloway discusses the harmful effects of intergenerational trauma shown through the characters Arrow, and Kenan.

Arrow is introduced into the novel as kind of these people's saviour. She is strong, and a fighter. She is driven to help her people and her city when Europe and nobody else will. She is extremely traumatized from being pushed into this role of “protector”. That could leave her with PTSD that if she one day chooses to have kids could neglect them. She could also lash out and be one second harsh and mean, the other happy and loving. Mixed feelings like that could confuse children. In the novel this is exemplified when, “To hate people because they hated her first, and then to hate them because of what they've done to her, has created a desire to separate the part of her that will fight back, that will enjoy fighting back, from the part that never wanted to fight in the first place. Using her real name would make her no different from the men she kills. It would be a death greater than the end of her life.” (Steven Galloway, 2008) Someone with such power and responsibility, it would be hard to go back to “normal” life. “Not long ago the promise of a happy life seemed almost inviolable” (Steven Galloway, 2008) That quote shows amazingly how in a few days everything can change in horrible ways. Now Arrow doesn’t have children but the character Kenan does.

Kenan is an amazing father and the second-best character in the book. He is a lovely father and Husband to Amila his wife. How could this war affect his relationship with his wife but more importantly his kids? He was diminished to life just to find water, bring it back, and survive. But he has to he has a family and many people counting on him. “You've never lived through a war. You have no idea what it will be like. "It won't last long," he said. "The rest of Europe will do something to stop it from escalating."(Steven Galloway, 2008) This quote shows the reader that he had hope, and it’s getting torn apart day by day.  Kids need normality in their lives. Their father losing it could hurt them so much it could give them PTSD just the same and with trauma, history tends to repeat itself with their children. “The fingers on his flesh told him that he was loved, that he had always been loved, and that the world was a place where above all else the things that were good would find a way to burrow into you”(Steven Galloway, 2008). A quote like this is important in such a sad paper. This quote disproves my statements about how these people won’t recover. This shows at least someone has hope. The next quote shows more hope in a darker more realistic way.“He’ll do this every day for twenty-two days, a day for each person killed. Or at least he’ll try. He won’t be sure he will survive”(Steven Galloway, 2008).  As a reader, this quote shows that people even in something like this are so dark. The cellist shows them hope but they still see the negative in something positive. Or maybe these people do have hope but it’s just clouded and behind so much negative darkness. Kenan is an example of a person trying their best to survive and keep his family alive.

After this these kids are going to need help to fix and break the cycle of trauma. Some things those kids may experience are isolation, fearfulness, memory loss, anger, and nightmares. Decades after this war as a reader it’s insane to think this was not that long ago. This book was overall alright and shows hope, and trauma in amazing ways.