The Cellist Of Sarajevo Character Analysis

What happens to people when the seemingly simplest parts of life become a question of survival? In Steven Galloway’s “The Cellist of Sarajevo” people are forced to make decisions that will decipher whether or not they will remain alive and whether or not they will remain altruistic. Often, when people are forced into conditions like the ones outlined in Galloway’s novel, they may have to choose to focus on simply enduring to the end, even if doing what it takes to survive outweighs remaining genuine to their morals and to their humanity.
In the novel, one of the characters, Kenan, is faced with the challenge of retrieving water for his family and an elderly neighbour. This necessary task requires him to journey all the way across the war torn city, this is very difficult for him, for he fears the potential threat of death that manifests itself at the brewery when it suddenly falls under attack. The bombing leaves the place in shambles and causes Kenan to question why he continues to retrieve water for his abrasive neighbour, even though she has never shown appreciation to him and it makes his journey home much more difficult. In an act
After he witnesses a terrible display of violence at the brewery he moves into a type of survival mode, where getting the water safely home to his family becomes more important than the promises he’s made. He seems to feel indifferent towards his choice to abandon her water, that is until he hears the Cellist play his hopeful adagio. This adagio seems to cause people to look upon themselves and remember who they were before the conflict, Kenan hears this adagio and realizes what he’s done by leaving behind the water bottles. He has let the war win. He makes the decision to go back to retrieve the water, once again risking his life. He was lucky, as just as he was about to lose hope, he heard the cellists wonderful adagio and found his way back to who he truly