“The Cellist of Sarajevo” – my Prediction

The Cellist of Sarajevo Shirley Shi My prediction for the novel, The Cellist of Sarajevo, is that the novel is going to be out the siege in Sarajevo. It’s also going to be out a survival story for different kinds of characters in the novel. For example, on the inside flap of the novel, it said that a character in the story name Arrow, who is a counter sniper in the novel tries to protect the cellist from danger. The cellist had to stay in front of a bakery store, where a bomb killed twenty two people to play some tunes in memory of them.
The disclaimer of the novel tells the reader some information about what the novel is about, but not a lot of information. For example, the Toronto Star said “In this story of a battered city and its suffering residents, art is just a trinket. Art offers precious albeit fleeting, moments of solace and hope…profoundly stirring” This comment helps the reader to understand that the residents are suffering but it did not say how they are suffering. The comment only said why they are suffering and from what they are suffering. The residents are suffering from living in a battered city.
The quotations in the novel helps the reader to understand the deeper meaning of a character or it can help the reader to understand the setting or the actions of what the character is doing. The first few chapter of the novel is about the cellist. This first part of the book is the exposition of the novel. The cellist job was to play music in front of a bakery, where a bombed killed twenty two people, who were waiting in line to buy bread. The cellist had to stay in front of that bakery for twenty two days and play his cellist in memory of those who died.

This first part of the book helps the reader to understand the cellist a little bit and also helps the reader to wonder how the cellist in the novel is going to survive because the cellist is out in the open, where he is not protected by a barrier or any protection. Arrow, a counter sniper, life had changed when she became a sniper. She doesn’t shoot at civilians, like the men on the hills, but she shoots at soldiers. Before, her life was normal, she was living her life like an average teenager girl, but when the war started; her attitude toward things had changed from been normal to un-normal.
One of her internal conflict is within herself. After the world around her had started to change, she started to change herself. She didn’t want to be the girl who is always nice to everyone anymore. “I’m Arrow, I hate them, the woman you knew hated nobody” One of her external force would be “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, from the part that never wanted to fight in the first place…” (13).
This quotation tells the reader that she is having a conflict with the people that affected her to change, which as we know from the quote that the people that affected her was the men on the hills. Another one of her external force is “For a moment she’s unsure, unable to read their gestures. ” This quotation tells the reader that she is having conflicts with the soldiers that are on the street beneath the building that she is in. She is not sure on whether she should shoot at them or not because she is not sure about of what there gestures.
Kenan, the second main character in the novel, also had internal and external conflicts during the siege in Sarajevo. His internal conflict would be been a coward. He is scared of death. He is worried about what will his wife and kids would think if they found out that he is dead. “As the door to the apartment closes behind him he presses his back to it and slides to the ground…He doesn’t want to go”. (26). This quotation tells the reader that Kenan is a coward because is not strong enough to face the outside world.
If he wasn’t a coward then he would have just closed the door and left already with the six canisters in his hands, but instead he just sits on the outside of his door of his apartment afraid like a frightened dog. One of his external conflicts is not able to go out and get some clean water from the brewery because of the men on the hills. The men are on the hills will shoot civilians from anywhere without them knowing. He doesn’t want his wife and his kids to know that he is dead because he knows that his wife will never recover from it. Instead he just wants the war to be over so he and his family could have their own normal life back. .. That the men on the hills can kill anyone, anywhere, anytime they like…” (25). This quotation tells the reader why Kenan is so afraid to go out and do his task, which is going to the brewery. The brewery is not close to his apartment so he has to walk a long way and he has to carry Mrs. Ristovski’s two water bottles with her along the way. What makes him even more afraid of dying is walking slowly. The difference between his canisters and Mrs, Ristovski;s water bottles is that The canisters that Kenan has have handles on them but the water bottles that Mrs.
Ristovski has does not have handles so it’s harder for Kenan to carry them because without the handles he can’t tie his own canisters with her water bottles. He wants to be able to run as quick as he can when there is danger. Dragan, the last main character in the novel was scared of death too. The external conflict is whenever he tries to cross a intersection on a street that he was on, he always wait until its clear to cross because he is worried that the men on the hills will shoot bullets from anywhere, and may shoot him dead.
The internal conflict is when he is not sure whether he can cross the street or not. “Dragan is one of those who waits behind the protection of a concrete wall for a sign or a feeling that it’s ok to cross. He’s never quite sure what could possibly happen that might make a difference, but sooner or later he always feels that the time to cross has come. ” (40). This quotation tells the reader that Dragan can’t make up his mind. He wants to cross the intersection but he doesn’t have the courage to do so.