Themes Of Survival-Kenan, Dragan And Arrow

• Survival- Kenan, Dragan and Arrow’s lives all contribute to the theme of survival. Throughout the war, Arrow survives by creating a new identity for herself. She used to be an innocent girl that went by the name, Alisa. She has now become an individual that kills soldiers in order to protect her city. Arrow does not like who she has become, and as a result she has to use a coping mechanism to survive. She believes if she creates another identity just for the war, she could go back to being Alisa once it is over. Dragan sends his family away to Italy, instead of keeping them in a place that in unsafe. He survives by trying to separate himself from what is going on in the city by interacting with no one, including his friends. Dragan decides
Instead of leaving with his family, Dragan decides to stay back and live with his sister and her husband, who Dragan despises. He sacrifices his happiness by living with someone he hates in order to protect his family. A friend of Dragan’s wife, Emina, sacrifices herself to deliver expired medicine to a stranger in Sarajevo. It is not necessary for her to jeopardize her life, yet she is found in the city, helping an individual who she has never met before. Kenan is another character that threatens his life to keep others safe. Every four days he goes to get water for his family, turning down offers if one of them wants to join him on his dangerous journey. Not only does Kenan get water for his family, but he also gets water for his neighbor, Mrs. Ristovski without receiving anything in return. The Cellist executes one of the greatest self-sacrifices. The Cellist plays everyday at four o’clock pm in front of the bakery for the 22 citizens that were killed by a mortar attack, waiting in line for bread. He risks his life everyday just to pay respect to the innocent lives that were lost, while completely aware that the men on the hills know exactly where he
Reality- Arrow finds herself dreaming about who she was before the war. She used to just be an innocent girl with a spot on the university sharp-shooting team. Ever since Nermin, a soldier who became her boss, approached her, her identity was changed forever. She started referring to herself as Arrow after she became a sniper who was ordered to shoot the men on the hills. She tried to save her humanity and justify her actions by only shooting soldiers, and not civilians, but as time went on, reality sunk in. Arrow realized she became one of the men on the hills and her life will never go back to the way it was. She could never become Alisa, her old, innocent self again. Similarly to Arrow, Kenan also dreams about life in Sarajevo. When Kenan stopped to listen to The Cellist play, he was imaging how beautiful the city used to be before destruction struck. He was remembering what it was like to not live in fear and then he opened his eyes. He grasped the concept that it is about the character of those who rebuild the city, not of those who tore it