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. In the novel The Cellist Of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway, the war slowly but surely diminishes Arrow's humanity by making killing normal for her, killing out of hatred and leaving her emotionless. Firstly, murder is a very inhumane and cruel action, but to Arrow, taking …show more content…
it is a normal human reaction that after something as traumatizing as killing someone people will have feelings of shock, regret and fear. Arrow feels none of these emotions and it is effortless for her because she lacks humanity. This shows she has an absence of humanity because she is able to take someone else’s life so easily without even thinking twice about what she has done or feeling any regret. It is as if she lacks a conscience. Secondly, Arrow does not kill the men on the hills because of what they have done but she simply kills them out of hatred. Arrow used to only kill to protect the citizens and herself, "but now, she knows, she's mainly driven by a hatred by them, the idea of them as a group, and not by their actions"(152). Arrow begins to be prejudice towards the men on the hills, even though they once used to all live peacefully despite their different religions and ethnic groups. Arrow used to only kill the men on the hills to protect herself and because she had to kill them before they kill the Bosnian people ,but as she loses humanity she starts to kill them because of her hatred for them as a group .This shows that she is inhumane because she lacks mercy and …show more content…
Firstly, during the war Dragan avoids conversations with anyone he knows, so he does not have to think about how the war has affected their lives. Ever since the war "he's stopped talking to his friends, visits no one avoids those who visit him"(43). Dragan chooses to avoid every one so he does not have to take in all the problems the war has created. This shows his lack of humanity because he does not interact with any other people and does not care for others. Secondly, Dragan begins to compare himself to a dog and sees that they are both alike. He begins to feel "Unlike the men on the hills, who still make a distinction between humans and dogs. Dragan now sees little difference"(131). The war has made Dragan feel like there is not much left to him and he is like a dog now. This shows Dragan has become inhumane because he loses his self-worth and feels as if he is like a dog. Lastly Dragan does not help his friend Emina when she is shot. Dragan knows his friend has been shot and he should help her but "his feet don't move"(134). Dragan doesn't go and help his friend because he thinks there is a slim chance of him getting shot if he does and chooses himself over his dying friend. This shows Dragan's lack of humanity because he selfishly does not care about others and lacks compassion and bravery. In conclusion these are the
In the human nature, naive ignorance of the world's imperfections eventually yields to the recognition that the world does contain hatred and violence. John Knowles places his novel A Separate Peace in situations which necessitate this emotional transformation. The characters become increasingly aware of the nature of the world. In addition, symbols help show the interrelation of ideas and events as they appear in Gene's subconscious mind. In this novel, setting, character, and symbols develop the theme of loss of innocence.
The hardest one; whether to kill an innocent civilian was a decision that only she could make for herself, however thankfully, she remains moral and ethical and refuses to kill the man. This gut wrenching decision ends up having a tremendous positive effect on her life. When Hasan gives her the order to kill an innocent person those three little words saves the man’s life, but unbeknownst to him kills Arrows’. “No, I won’t” (226) she says and just like that her life changes forever. From that moment on Arrow is on the run for ten days straight. Finally when she was ready to give up running and surrender, she spends her last few days and moments in peace because she knows she makes the right decision. The persona of Arrow is a character that she creates so she would be able to live with the fact that she has to kill people. When she is about to die, “She says, her voice strong and quiet, ‘my name is Alisa’”(258). She refuses to kill for no purpose and because of that her Arrow personality is gone and right before she dies she utters her real name knowing and understanding that maintaining her morals is the only thing that the war does not take from her. Her decision to not let the war take her integrity despite the difficult circumstance leads her to a meaningful end to her
Murder is a reprobate action that is an inevitable part of war. It forces humans into immoral acts, which can manifest in the forms such as shooting or close combat. The life of a soldier is ultimately decided from the killer, whether or not he follows through with his actions. In the short stories The Sniper by Liam O'Flaherty and Just Lather, That's All by Hernando Téllez, the killer must decide the fate of their victims under circumstantial constraints. The two story explore the difference between killing at a close proximity compared to killing at a distance, and how they affect the killer's final decision.
The dog walks across ‘Sniper Alley’ and as Dragan watches it he contemplates whether the men on the hill will shoot it, “If the men on the hill will not shoot the dog, but they shoot at us, they must consider us different.”, Dragan doesn't know if he wants to be on the same level as the dog, having the men shoot it or if he would rather them leave it. He doesn’t know what it would mean if they did shoot. Would it be the dogs not worth the bullet or the dogs life is more important than that of a humans. Dragan doesn’t know, “Whether we are better or worse” whether the dogs life is rated higher to the men than the civilians are or if the dog is smaller and more insignificant then they are. We spend time judging and comparing ourselves to others, but we can’t put a value on whose life we deem more important than others. We all have worth in different areas that can’t be judged the same
Throughout the life of an individual most people would agree that dealing with tough conflict is an important part in growing as a person. 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. Steven Galloway’s novel “The Cellist of Sarajevo” exemplifies that when an individual goes through a difficult circumstance they will often struggle because of the anger and fear they have manifested over time. The conflict that the individual faces will force them to reinforce and strengthen their identity in order to survive.
To be human is to be compassionate and caring for one another; however, in the book, Night, Elie begins to resemble an existence that is not human, due to his environment where one has to live for only themselves.
In the book Night by Elie Wiesel, humanity is a theme seen throughout. Humanity can be defined in many ways. It can be the disposition to do good, or it can be the human race. In the Night, the theme of humanity is the disposition to do good. In the book, Elie loses and finds his humanity. At the end, he holds on to his humanity, but loses some of it after events like his father’s death. Elie succeeds in retaining his humanity because he holds on to his father, he feels sympathy for people at the camps, and he keeps faith. Elie retains his humanity in the end even though he loses it in the middle of the book.
How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America: A Reembrace, is an essay about the authors, Kiese Laymon, life growing up in Mississippi under black patrol. He explains his story about a gun, those who died by a young and how people in America are slowly killing each other. His story of all the people that pulled a gun on him, and how he came to survive and accept his own life as a black boy in the south.
Mankind and humanity have two different meanings, mankind is the human race collectively and humanity is the state of being humane and benevolent. Cormac McCarthy’s novel The Road and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby highlight the difference between those words. In their novels, Fitzgerald and McCarthy use vengeful judgement to elucidate mankind’s lack of humanity.
In struggles of powers stretching worldwide, nobody wins. Death hunts all sides equally and cooly, whether axis or ally. This is, of course, is in reference to not just all wars, but more specifically the second World War, the War after the War to End All Wars, the cleanup on what the Great War swept under the rug. The second World War not only tore open the scars left by the first, but gave rise to a slew of new ones on the next generation; these scars being even more gruesome than before due to unfortunate advancements in war. Randall Jarrell in his poem “The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner” uses tone, and the tone’s subsequent change, diction, and imagery to show the atrocities of war even more so than the most cruel words
Arrow is a character that has his mind set on doing what is necessary. She is reluctant to pick up a rifle, but she does it to prtect the people of Sarajevo. The narrator says, "Everyone does something to stay alive," (Galloway 7). Humans must
...about. In the process of the governments’ actions the question of humanity is brought up. However, they took different approaches as to what makes an individual a human person.
The main way the author, Steven Galloway, conveys the dehumanising impact of war is through an extended motif of comparing animals to the people of Sarajevo that are affected by the war. Kenan, one of the three main characters in which the cellist intertwines with, explains the comparison between pigeons and people, he feels a “sort of kinship with the pigeon.” In the war, “he thinks it's 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.” Before the war began Sarajevo was a city of peace and love, the war changed this. The war and the men on the hills made the people of Sarajevo hate.
Humanity is composed of one entity: humans. Beings who demonstrate empathy, emotions and understand moral codes. Granted all this, the essence of humanity is not defined merely by the actions of one person, it is defined by the actions of society has done as a whole. Patrick Süskind, author of the novel Perfume:The Story Of A Murderer translated by John E.Woods, portrays the element of humanity as being sinister if not ‘satanic’. The novel characterizes the negative aspects of humanity through the use of innocence, the corruption in society and society perceptions of the unknown.
Understanding humanity is essential because it forces us to think critically about the challenges that face one as an individual as well as a society. This allows one to blend into a society that is constantly improving itself. Without humanity, civilizations become corrupt. Humanity in Huckleberry Finn is the understanding that others are not sub-human creatures without feelings. However, true humanity is far broader than this one definition. Humanity is being able to ignore the natural instinct of complying with the views of society and instead show the compassion and mercy to see one another as a human being. It is stopping unjust behavior to help others become more equal. Humanity is a blend of kindness, care, and a restoration of dignity. Twain’s Huckleberry Finn implies that Huck must leave “sivilized” society in order to find his humanity.