Heroism Theme Analysis

As is typical for a war novel, The Cellist of Sarajevo portrays acts of heroism. However, Galloway uses his focus on civilians to expand the definition of war heroism from soldiers’ physical bravery under threat to the more quotidian activities of living life amid violence. Galloway begins his exploration of heroism by showing the way that his characters fail to meet the traditional ideals of heroism. Dragan, an older man who has lived his entire life in this city, is filled with such hopelessness that he struggles to even speak to those around him, much less react bravely when he sees an old acquaintance, Emina, get shot in the elbow on the street. Kenan, a middle-aged Sarajevan father, also finds himself helpless in the face of violence, standing in shock when a shell explodes at the brewery where Kenan collects water. Though he wishes he could be one of the people helping the injured in the aftermath, Kenan finds himself able to do nothing but stand and look at the wreckage and the dead, and then collect his water. Arrow, a former civilian who has joined the militia defending Sarajevo as a sniper, is the most conventionally heroic character in the novel. Yet Galloway complicates Arrow’s heroism when she is assigned to protect the cellist and Arrow finds herself questioning if it is really heroic to kill other human beings who seem to appreciate the cellist’s music as much as the Sarajevans do.

Over the course of the novel, as Galloway continues the stories of his seemingly unheroic characters, he begins to portray a different kind of heroism. After Emina gets shot on her way to see the cellist, Dragan decides to go himself to see the cellist so he can then tell Emina about it. Though Dragan has spent the war avoiding contact with others, he decides to put himself in danger of sniper fire in order to help his injured friend connect with the world. Kenan, for his part, decides to go back to the shelled brewery and get water for his crotchety elderly neighbor, even though it will be difficult for him. He decides to put his responsibility to care for others above his own personal safety and comfort.

Meanwhile, Galloway portrays Arrow’s act of conventional war heroism—her assassination of the enemy sniper—as a moral failure, rather than heroic. Since she kills the opposing sniper while he is enjoying the cellist’s music, the novel depicts Arrow’s act not as protecting the cellist, but as betraying the ideals for which the cellist is playing. Instead, the novel suggests that Arrow’s moment of heroism is when she refuses to shoot at innocent civilians in defiance of her orders. Ultimately, Galloway portrays the cellist, who puts himself in danger to memorialize victims of an attack, as the most heroic of all. Kenan, Dragan, and Arrow all praise the cellist for his brave effort to restore a small bit of beauty to the devastated city. Further, the cellist inspires the other citizens of Sarajevo to see beyond mere struggles for survival and reconnect with the higher ideals of humanity that will eventually help Sarajevo recover. In other words, the cellist reminds citizens that true heroism comes with empathy.