Examples Of Resilience In The Cellist Of Sarajevo

Have you ever been going through a terrible time in your life and just felt like giving up? How did you overcome this rough patch? For most people, the answer is that they stayed resilient and kept their head up with faith. Resilience is extremely important in an individual's life. An example of resilience can be shown in "The Cellist of Sarajevo" by Steven Galloway. Kenan is a fairly young man with a wife, and 3 kids. Kenan and his family reside in Sarajevo, a once vibrant town, torn apart by a civil war. Kenan witnesses tragedies and loss during this time, and has to show resilience. Kenan always has cowardly and fearful thoughts which end up making things worse for him, but he puts those thoughts away later in the novel and stays resilient

While Kenan is filling the jugs up, he is caught in the middle of a shelling. Kenan himself is barely hurt, but around him, he sees many people severely injured, or dead. He wants to help, but his body is frozen in one spot. He sees people crying out for help, running, looking for loved ones, but Kenan cannot move a limb. In his heart, Kenan wants to help people out, but in his brain, he knows how risky it is, so he stays still. This contributes to Kenan thinking he is a coward. Kenan thinks about how his children were asking to tag along to the canteen. If his children had tagged along, they would have been put in grave danger, and Kenan would have never been able to live with himself. This ignites something inside Kenan which Kenan hasn't felt before. For the first time instead of being sad or scared of the war, he is angry. He is angry that he can't take his kids out of the home for some fun. He is mad that all these innocent people are losing their lives, and he is mad at himself for being scared after the shelling, when there are men like Ismet who on the front lines fighting to keep the town safe. Kenan wanted to go back to the canteen and help an old man who was looking for his dog, but he does not have the energy, so he heads on his way

When on the bridge, he hurts himself and becomes enraged. He leaves Mrs. Ristovski's jugs in their hiding spot and heads home. He is tired and done dealing with Mrs. Ristovski's nagging and complaining, even after all he does for her. On his way home, Kenan happens to run into Ismet again. Kenan tells Ismet what happened, and he convinces Kenan to come to the market with him to take his mind off things. Kenan agrees and accompanies Ismet to the market. While at the market, Kenan hears the sound of an instrument, and is led to the Cellist. Kenan listens to the sound of the Cello, and his mind is cleared. He is no longer enraged at Mrs. Ristovski, the men on the hill, or the shelling. Kenan feels at ease for the first time in a very long time. Kenan realizes that Sarajevo is going through a terrible time right now, but it won't be forever. If everyone comes together as a community, things will get better for the people of Sarajevo. Kenan goes back and gets Mrs. Ristovski's water jugs and makes his way home. Although Kenan was tired of everything and everyone, he stayed resilient at the end and came through on his promise of delivering filled water jugs to Mrs.