A symbol of Hope....?

My interpretation of what Arrow could look like

    In The Cellist of Sarajevo, the cellist begins to become a very important asset to the town. So important that the chief hires Arrow to protect him from assignation. They fear that the people on the hills will kill him to make a point. He leaves his apartment to play his cello every single day at the same time, and that's when arrow will be watching. 

    At the very beginning of the novel, the cellist doesn’t seem very significant, no other characters talk about him at all; but more and more they begin to share their feelings. Later in the novel, when the cellist becomes more significant, the leader of the army orders arrow to protect him. This is when the significance of the cellist really begins to emerge. When Arrow is protecting the cellist, she notices that people will stop by and bring him flowers. We also get other little facts of information from other characters. Later we find that Dragan meets a friend he knew a while back. He discovers she is in a rush to get back and watch the cellist play, just like she does on a regular basis. The quote that provides this information is;

“Everyday he sits there and plays. People go and listen. Some leave flowers. I’ve been several times. Sometimes I listen all the way through, and sometimes I leave only after a few minutes.” (Galloway 125)

A picture of the Cellist playing

    The cellist himself seems to act as a sense of hope for the town, acting fearless and playing his cello in the line of danger everyday. Despite the large danger of being killed or shelled, the people of Sarajevo will still travel everyday to hear him play, and sometimes leave flowers. Just like he play’s to rejuvenate the hope in himself, the town of Sarajevo could be using him to rejuvenate the hope back to themselves.  another example of the cellist acting as a symbol of hope could be;

“I don’t know the piece he plays, what its name is. It’s a sad tune. But it doesn’t make me sad.”(Galloway 125)

    This quote could be showing how the people will listen to the sad tune, but instead of making them sad, it will fill them with hope. Nor Emina or Dragan can figure out why he plays everyday, whether he’s playing for himself, or the town, they can not understand why. Dragan brings up and interesting point of how he may be playing to make sure things don’t get worse, that he may be a bit of an optimist. Could this be the cellist reassuring everyone things will get better?