The Path to Salvage
War will change one more drastically than in others do in their entire lives. It has the ability to alter one’s mental state so radically it can be hard to conceive. In Stephen Galloway’s, The Cellist of Sarajevo and Sebastian Faulks’ Birdsong, the ongoing war around Arrow and Stephan force them to search for a renewed purpose in life and a new reason to carry on living. Ultimately, the characters attempt to achieve this goal but, due to the intervention of others, self-realization and the traumas they face the characters become more humane.
One of the most prominent reasons the characters change throughout the story is because of the interventions of others. The characters come to realize that the people whom they resent are truly better people than they originally thought. In Birdsong, Stephen is relentless and cold towards a fellow soldier named Jack Firebrace, but when Stephen is in a tight spot and no one comes to help him, Firebrace is the one who saves his life. At one point, he even goes out of his way to find Stephen when he is in trouble, “‘You mean he’s dead?’ ‘They didn’t take him to the clearing section. He must have had it...’ ‘Jack recovering from his fright climbed over the wall and went closer…” (Faulks, 181). Firebrace was the last person that Stephen would expect to come save him. When he does, despite the fact that Stephen was deemed dead, Stephen finds it in him to create a new resolve to never be so cold to anyone ever again. The people they meet not only provide them with a new outlook on people it also develops their characteristics and help them change. In Birdsong, Stephen meets Isabelle who helps give poor families food during a large strike at her family company. Stephen witnesses her go past her limits to help people in times of hardship. When confronted about her bold acts by her husband she compassionately says, “I took them food… I had seen children asking for bread… I would do it again,” (Faulks, 94). He sees how she is willing to stand up to her husband, the owner of the company, to do something for others. This changes his mentality and makes him into a more humane person who is leading by her example.
Despite the original negative impressions of the opposition, in the Cellist of Sarajevo, Arrow also comes to realize her views are false. Arrow comes to realize that her enemy decided not to kill a man when he was supposed to, because he was listening to the cellist’s song and enjoying its peaceful melody. When Arrow aims her sniper at the man and steady’s her aim she looks at him as, “His head leans back slightly…no longer looking through his scope… He is listening to the music,” (Galloway, 153). The shockingly kind heart of the enemy is what leads arrow to question her own morals and becomes a kinder person. The characters from both books begin to witness another side to the people whom they once thought were horrible. Not only do they gain a new outlook on life but also become passionate towards others more easily. The people they look down upon develop which allow them to change their negative attitude towards others. On the contrary to Birdsong, in The Cellist of Sarajevo, Arrow meets Hassan a man with no mercy for those who live in fear during the war. For instance when a civilian accidently stumbles in between the mission despite arrow’s plea to save him he says, “He’s our target…I pick who to shoot at, not you,” (Galloway, 223). The cruel ways of Hassan show Arrow what the war could turn her into and leads her to becoming a more humane person. In both of texts the intervention of others teaches the characters how to and how not to treat people. When the characters witness the acts of these people they become more humane and build empathy towards others. Despite the fact that the intervention of others largely contributes to their change, at certain times, the characters have moments of self-realization which empower them to change and find a new outlook during the war.
The self-realization the characters have is one of the biggest factors that contribute to the characters’ change. In both novels the characters have epiphanies of self-realization which they use to comprehend the consequences of their decisions and realize what they have become. In Birdsong, Stephen starts to realize how much he needs to change when his reputation precedes him as being a cold hearted and unpleasant person. This can be witnessed frequently like when he catches one of his subordinates snoozing off during duty and says, “Were you asleep? ...the voice of the first officer was cold,” (Faulks, 129). It is also seen when his subordinates ask one of his friends what kind of person he is to be around. He tells them “Mr.Wrayford is the strangest one I’ve seen…,” (Faulks, 132). As it is evident, Stephen is clearly not a kind person, and is distancing himself from everyone. He realizes what he has become and searches for a new path to walk. The characters in the book also seem to realize the consequences of their actions and that their situation will become more dire if they do not walk another path. In Birdsong Stephen acknowledges how badly he needs to change and searches for a new perspective in life when he comes to realize how ruthlessly animalistic they behave. When he comes across this thought he is in such shock of what he witnesses that he even says, “None of these men would admit that what they saw and what they did were beyond the boundaries of human behavior,” (Faulks, 141). This quote shows how he feels during the peak of the war. His epiphany makes him want to become someone different and not be known as a cold-blooded killer.
Similarly to Birdsong, the characters in The Cellist of Sarajevo comprehend the consequences of their actions and realize what they have become, due to their epiphanies of self-realization. Arrow realizes how inhumane and different she is once the war starts. Earlier she says that before the war she was kind and could not even imagine taking a life. Once the war begins, killing was no longer an issue to her, she even says, “She thinks of this in the context of pulling the trigger and ending a life,” (Galloway, 96). In the beginning Arrow is able to take alife so easily, when she realizes how heartless she has become she starts to slowly move away from harming others. In both texts the characters realize how horrible they become after the war in comparison to their past selves. This is what initially makes the characters think that they must change for the better. In Birdsong Stephen seems to realize the consequences of his actions and that his situation will become more dire if he does not walk another path. Likewise, in The Cellist of Sarajevo Arrow finally comes to realize that she has to change and find a new perspective on life when her actions catch up with her. One day when she is doing her daily duties she picks up her rifle and holds it in a familiar way and thinks as she departs, “If they want her to kill the men on the hills, then fine, she will kill the men on the hills. Whatever has happened in her life, the choices she has already made, they have led her to this point. All that remain are the consequences,” (Galloway, 202). Arrow talks about how lifeless she has become and how she has already made several bad decisions and refuses to make more. As it is evidently clear in both texts, the characters acknowledge the horrible actions and decisions they have made in the past and use it as a stepping stone to change and become more humane. The Characters’ self-realization is a large factor what initially started their change, however the most important of all the reasons is the trauma they face during the war.
The trauma they face initially leads them to have drastic amounts of change in a short time period. The traumas act as a bucket of cold water waking up the characters, giving them several reasons to find a new path and change their initial qualities. In Birdsong Stephen traumatizes when he witnesses how horrific the war becomes as a shell hits the tunnel he was working in. He even watches four people he knows die brutally get blown up, “Their heads and limbs blown away and mixed into the rushing soil… flattened against the side of the wall by the blast...” (Faulks, 124). The trauma of his fellow soldiers being blown up in front of him shows him the value of life. He learns that life is valuable and feels he should change to make it mean more. The traumas that the characters experience in the novels also help the characters see more clearly what their nature is and how they truly are being portrayed. In Birdsong, Stephen witnesses what other people turn into during the war and begins to question their human nature. When the war gets into its peak and soldiers are mindlessly taking the lives of others he thinks to himself, “This is not a war; this is an exploration of how far men can be degraded. I am deeply curious to see how much further it can be taken...” (Faulks, 150). Stephen is talking about how low the soldiers are being forced to snoop and the inhumane things they are resorting to. This experience changes his perspective on war and makes him more humane.
The traumas the characters see make them want to change for the better and find a more peaceful path. In The Cellist of Sarajevo Arrow also faces the trauma of witnessing how a once cheerful stadium becomes a burial ground for her old neighbor and other fallen civilians. The author even talks about how common of an act it had become, “When her neighbor Slavko was killed by a sniper on his way back from collecting water, shot clean through the neck, they took him to the Kosevo Stadium, now made into a burial ground.” (Galloway, 138). Arrow is internally traumatized from this event and due to it she learns the value of life and how quickly it can be taken in times of war. It can be seen without doubt that the traumas they face are what ultimately show them the value of life; not just their own but others as well. They witness how easily life can be taken away from someone and this compels them to becoming more humane and caring. The characters are able to see their nature and how they are being portrayed clearly once they experience the trauma of the war. In The Cellist of Sarajevo, Arrow also realizes what the war has done to her and how she changes for the worse. When she finally comes to realize what is happening and says, “The men on the hills didn’t have to be murderers. The men in the city didn’t have to lower themselves to fight their attackers. She didn’t have to be filled with hatred… she know to a certainty that the world still held the capacity for goodness,” (Galloway, 255). Arrow finally realizes her wrongdoings of her past and attempts to change her life by becoming more humane and decides not to carelessly take a life. In both texts the events that take place are what make the characters understand their flaws. They both come to an epiphany that the senseless killing must end and that they must become more humane.
Throughout both Stephen Galloway’s The Cellist of Sarajevo and Sebastian Faulks’ Birdsong, war around Arrow and Stephan makes them find a new perspective on life and changes for the better and it is because intervention of others, self-realization and the traumas they face on the characters become more humane on their path. This allows the characters to excel in finding a new outlook on the world and also allows them to revert back to original kind nature. Despite the fact that war is a complicated and dramatic theme it should now be evident that the roots are not as tangled as it first seemed.
Bibliography

Faulks, Sebastian. Birdsong. United Kingdom: Hutchinson, 1993. Document.
Galloway, Steven. The Cellist of Sarajevo. Toronto: Random House of Canada Limited, 2009. Document.