Summary: The Cellist Of Sarajevo

The Cellist of Sarajevo “There is a thin line between peace of the brave and peace of the hostage… between compromise – even calculated risks – and irresponsibility and capitulation” (Ehud Barak). Sarajevo was a city under siege by the Chetniks. People who resided in Sarajevo during that time became prisoners in their town. They had to compromise something to live. Whether it was their humanity for safety or their safety for integrity. By giving up something, their moral compass was breached and it shifted over time. Some people became assassins, killing the innocent, some became a spectator witnessing others being butchered and doing nothing, while others thrived during that intense siege. No matter where one came from, or however valiant

He risked his life every 3-4 days so that his family and the 70-year-old widower (Mrs. Ristovski) who lived in the apartment below them could have clean drinking water. “The brewery’s water comes from underground springs deep in the water table and he feels is worth the risk of the extra distance” (Galloway 14). Compromising his security was not the only event that took place in Kennan’s life. Throughout the novel, Kennan used other people as dummies to make sure that he went to the brewery and came back home

Someone who gave people hope and prevailed during the cordon. The Cellist brought unity in a city divided by terror. He healed the pain felt throughout the city with his art. He was a hero with a cello. Everyone from the men in the hills to the civilians who were fleeing for their lives respected what he did. Arrow who was commanded to protect him saw a positive side of the war through his eyes. On the 3 categories presented by the quote, “… there are those who help, there are those who run away and those who stand with their mouths gaping open” (Galloway 144), the Cellist would be described as a hero who risked his safety and saved a city torn between what was right and what was wrong. The Cellist of Sarajevo is like the modern-day Syria. With starvation and barricade blocking the country, there is nothing that the government can do to help. So, they let the siege play out on its own. Children remain orphans, dying of diseases and bombing by the rebels. With the siege in Syria, one wonders if humans ever learn from history?

Modern day Sarajevo is improved and learned through from its mistakes. There are no winners in war, only survivors. People lose themselves under intense pressure but humanity never dies. With the help of the 4 main characters in the book, Galloway explains how the war makes people compromise something in them that they would otherwise