The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway Literary Analysis Essay

War has always been perceived as shocking, destructive, non-beneficial, and a reason for isolation due to people’s instinctual need for survival.  The Bosnian war in Sarajevo was no different from any other war, having to cope with death, loss of family, loneliness, and uncertainty of life left many feeling hopeless. People can often learn the value of life by experiencing the ugliness of war and recognizing that they alone control their lives. Steven Galloway challenged the stereotypical ideologies regarding the effect war has on the way a person chooses to protect themselves from harm, in his novel “The Cellist Of Sarajevo”. The change Dragan, a main character, faced in his viewpoint of survival, clearly embodies how survival affects the way people respond to a competing demand. Dragan's values changed when he realized he could live a decent life, despite the circumstances of war. Self-preservation is the instinctive desire to escape danger, and typically can be described as the response of a person to internal and external conflicts of life. The novel explores the idea of how individuals are often instinctively drowned by self-preservation in their response to competing demands such as war. To overcome these critical times individuals may need the actions of people around them to influence them in a way that allows the individual to choose to bring positive change to their life.

As a result of instinctive self-preservation, people often isolate themselves from the rest of the world during wartime. When dealing with war and the competing demands that come with it, humans find comfort and safety knowing that they are unnoticed, which is why several people tend to deliberately isolate themselves from society during wartime. Dragan's “wife and son left on one of the last buses out of Sarajevo, and their apartment was one of the first shelled,” which ultimately led him to not care about himself. Especially since he had little hope that he would be reunited with his family. This furthermore adds to the lack of comfort he has in his life in such a critical time of his life, and therefore “he’s stopped talking to his friends, visits no one, and avoids those who come to visit him.” When an individual has no reason to live, they isolate themselves further, even if that causes more pain and suffering. Dragan's friend “Amil [was] only a few meters from him, and [he knew that] if he looked up he’ll see him, but Dragon turns and faces the wall behind him,” indicating that Dragan's isolation is deliberate since he chooses not to speak with someone he was once good friends with. Along with having no reason to live, the added competing demand to survive the war and hide from snipers can lead to unsatisfactory instinctive decisions that are made due to a person’s self-preservation. Dragan and the people of Sarajevo feel an immense amount of fear from the men on the hills, and they “don’t understand how the idea of being shot or blown apart doesn’t scare,” some of the others who live in the city. Dragan like many others is trying to respond to the suffering that comes with war, but the disconnection increases the suffering of the war. Rather than sharing the burdens of the siege, Dragan instinctively chooses to isolate himself from further suffering by refusing to care about anything or anyone. As humans, we often find comfort and safety in being unseen, which is why several people deliberately isolate themselves from society during wartime, due to self-preservation.

Individuals may be influenced by seeing the way others respond to competing demands in a way that allows them to decide whether to find fulfillment in life or continue on the path of isolation in an attempt to escape suffering. Throughout Galloway's novel, Dragan is shown as a person who has isolated himself from the rest of society in order to survive the war, but as he observes how Emina, one of his old friends who is much more optimistic about life, interacts with society despite the circumstances the reader begins to notice a change within him.  Emina is still “the person he once knew, affected by the war, changed, but the woman he knew is still in there. She hasn't been covered in the gray that colors the streets,” which leads Dragan to “wonder why he hasn't seen this before, and how much else he hasn't seen.” Over time he recognizes that because of self-preservation he has allowed himself to become so drowned by isolation, that he no longer notices society. Realizing that he has allowed, out of fear, himself to react to stressful or everyday situations, in a way which he himself doesn't approve of.  Suddenly, he begins to “think of Emina, risking her life to deliver expired pills to someone she’s never met,” and “of the young man who ran into the street to save her when she was shot. Of the cellist who plays for those killed in a mortar attack.” It is striking to him how all these people still care for others and that they have not allowed self-preservation and the instinct to survive to take over their response to life. They respond in the same way in times of war as they would have in times of no war. This allows Dragan to realize that just because he is lonely does not mean he has to become numb to emotion. Although self-preservation should not change the way a person responds to critical situations, it does. later Dragan sees Emina willingly give salt to an old woman, and sees the woman willingly give cherries to Emina in return, even though he knows that the women “didn’t have to give [emina] the cherries.” It is clear to him that he should not have let instinctual fear change his response to certain situations. Seeing that there are people who still live life the way they lived before allows him to bring change to the way he responds and thinks of situations. Through acts of kindness, and optimism a person is able to influence others who have opposing viewpoints on life. By not letting instinctual self-preservation control the way they respond to everyday situations. 

A person who discovers that their instinct for self-preservation is greater than their sense of altruism or civic duty, and that this is altering their response to competing demands, can lead a better life, by changing. Dragan is an excellent example of such a scenario. After meeting Emina and understanding how she does not allow instinct for self-preservation to damage her response to situations such as helping others, he changed himself, so that he could live a better life. At this point, Dragan realizes that “It doesn’t matter. If [the bullet] comes, it will come. If it doesn’t, he will be one of the lucky ones,” what really matters is that he makes the best of the situation and tries to live happily for as long as he can. Normally when he crosses an intersection heavily guarded by snipers he waits, hours at a time to cross, or until he satisfies his fear, but after examining Emina’s viewpoints on life he loses this fear. Although “He knows the sniper will fire again, he isn’t afraid,” because he knows that “there is what he can do, and what he can’t, There’s right and wrong and nothing else.” Essentially he understands that he can either follow his morals and do what he wants or he can let self-preservation get the best of him. Allowing himself to do as he wants gives him the freedom of choice, which he had lost due to fear, and the constant need to survive. When the war began Dragan avoided everyone he could, but in the end, he started conversations with others, he “smiles as he passes by an elderly man... and says “with his voice bright … good afternoon,” not because he should but because he wants to and he can. A sensation of relief and joy overcomes him because he is finally able to be himself again because he finally overcame self-preservation and the isolation that comes with it. 

Dragan is an excellent example of how a person must adjust their priorities in difficult circumstances while avoiding the instinctive reaction brought by self-preservation. Although difficult it is important so that an individual does not neglect their life. One must not allow self-preservation and the instinctive need for survival through isolation to override their response to competing demands, as this will ultimately allow one to live a better life.