The Cellist of Sarajevo

“That something could be almost erased from existence in the landscape of a ruined city, and then rebuilt until it is new and worthwhile” 

This sentence reinforces the importance of rebuilding the past and the present into something beautiful. 

“Not long ago, the promise of a happy life seemed almost inviolable” 

The cellist compares the beauty and potential of the past to the violence of the present. 

“The fingers on his flesh told him that he was loved, that he had always been loved, and that the world was a place where above all else the things that were good would find a way to burrow into you” 

This cellist’s memory of his father’s touch captures the feeling he wants to bring back to the citizens of Sarajevo—a sense of being protected and having hope for the future. 

“He’ll do this every day for twenty-two days, a day for each person killed. Or at least he’ll try. He won’t be sure he will survive” 

This is when the cellist decides to honor those killed and to return hope and beauty to the citizens of Sarajevo through his music, despite the risk to his own life. 

“When the mortars destroyed the Sarajevo Opera Hall, the cellist felt as if he were inside the building, as if the bricks and glass that once bound the structure together had become projectiles that sliced and pounded into him . . .” 

Here, the cellist is remembering the bombing of the opera hall, which is an especially painful memory for him. The destruction of the forum in which he played music is represented as his own destruction, suggesting the degree to which his identity is bound up with music.

“She can make a bullet do things others can’t” 

This quotation reflects Arrow’s keen talent with a rifle.

“Arrow believes she is different from the snipers on the hills. She shoots only soldiers. They shoot unarmed men, women, and children” 

This is Arrow’s code of ethics; which she believes separates her from the “men on the hills.”

“It’s a rare gift to understand your life is wondrous, and that it won’t last forever” 

This is an important quote—a reflection of Arrow’s--as she thinks about what the “men on the hills” have taken from her and all of Sarajevo’s people. The constant threat of death from enemy snipers means that the people of Sarajevo never have the chance to enjoy or appreciate life—which is exactly what makes it worthwhile.

“While life is more difficult without electricity, it is impossible without water” 

The desperate conditions endured by the people of Sarajevo are made evident in Kenan’s ranking of basic services. 

“[T]here’s no such thing as careful…the men on the hills can kill anyone, anywhere, anytime they like” 

This quote reflects the unrelenting, ever-present danger everywhere around these characters. 

“The fact that Ismet is fighting to save them all and Kenan is not has grown larger and larger” 

Kenan debates whether he should be defending his city like his friend Ismet, demonstrating different people’s reactions to the situation at hand. 

Then, in the blink of an eye, it all fell apart” 

This quote forms part of Dragan’s reflection on the order and beauty of Sarajevo before the war and how quickly the city—and the lives of its people—were destroyed. .

“Now, as she sits where he sits, she tells herself that she will not allow this man to die. He will finish what he’s doing. It isn’t important whether she understands what he’s doing or why he’s doing it. She does understand it’s important, and that is enough” 

Arrow recognizes the importance of what the cellist is doing and vows, at all costs, to make sure the cellist stays alive. 

“[T]he ash of a million books float[ing] down onto the city like snow”

Here, Kenan remembers the burning of the city’s library, which was especially painful for him. 

The removal of letters taxes the citizens so much, some choose to leave the island altogether. Some, like Mittie’s friend, choose instead to stop speaking, which is rebelling in another way: if Nollop was a man of words and they are people of words, removing words is the ultimate dismissal of nationalism.

Kenan realizes he is one of those of people who do nothing in the face of great crisis and is ashamed of his inability to help others. 

“He cries out, but he doesn’t recognize the sound that comes out of him” 

Kenan breaks down after the shelling of the brewery. His inability to recognize the sound that he makes suggest that he no longer recognizes himself. He cannot process the experience of war and the trauma he suffers makes everything, even his own voice, strange to him.

“He knows that he has been that dog. Ever since the war started he has walked through the streets and tried to pay as little attention as possible to his surroundings. He saw nothing he didn’t have to see and did nothing he didn’t have to do” 

Here, Dragan realizes he has to do more than just worry about his own existence. Life is about looking out for each other. He doesn’t want to let the war make him into a ‘dog’; he wants to be a person. 

Ella is left alone. She is the individual put up against the whole of society. Yet, her family and friends believe in her. However, she does not believe in herself.

Kenan reflects upon how the music affects him and the townspeople every day. The fact that he begins listening to the cellist after the brewery is bombed suggests the healing power of music, and art more generally. 

“He knows that if he wants to be one of the people who rebuild the city, one of the people who have the right even to speak about how Sarajevo should repair         itself, then he has to go outside and face the men on the hills” 

This is the moment of Kenan’s major epiphany in the novel. He realizes he must stop living in fear. 

“He begins to understand why he isn’t running. If he doesn’t run, he’s alive again” 

Dragan is beginning to gain courage at this point in the novel. 

“He’s been asleep since the war began. He knows this now” 

Here, Dragan has his major epiphany. He realizes he hasn’t really been living at all if he allows fear and isolation to dominate his life. 

“The men in the city didn’t have to lower themselves to fight their attackers. She didn’t have to be filled with hatred. The music demanded that she remember this, that she know to a certainty that the world still held the capacity for goodness. The notes were proof of that” 

This is the moment that Arrow realizes that she can no longer kill her enemies. 

“If she picks up the gun and kills the men on the other side of the door, she will become a fugitive. And sooner or later, she will either have to kill again or she will be caught. In the meantime, necessity will force her to hate her pursuers. And Arrow will not let that happen. Whether they are on the hills or in the city, no one will tell her who to hate” 

This is Arrow’s major epiphany in the novel. She decides that if she defends herself, if she shoots one more person, she will become more like the men on the hills, the destroyers of all that is honorable and beautiful in life. She refuses to participate in the war any further.