Imagine that your daily routine is disrupted by witnessing a murder. The event would indubitably haunt you with disturbance for quite a while. Now, imagine that you reside in a bombarded city, with consistent death all around you.
Our society has sufficient access to our desired material goods. Imagine that we struggle to obtain our craved luxuries, but we are given a sudden opportunity to receive them.
Galloway constructed a world where people have grown apathetic to the consistent death around them. These people also lack luxuries, since they prioritize survival resources, which are vital and scarce. The Cellist of Sarajevo reveals these ideas in numerous ways, some of which I have already disclosed, but there is a particular demonstration that is presented in a hidden yet powerful fashion.
Dragan was unaware of the hat’s name, but he described it as a detective hat. Therefore, I imagined it as a deerstalker, which is famously donned by Sherlock Holmes.
While Dragan waits to cross at an intersection, he notices a man in a hat approaching from the other side. “The man wears a brown hat with a peak, a type of hat Dragan has never owned but has always thought looked good” (Galloway 133). While the man sprints across the street, he is impacted by the sniper. The hat soars from his head and settles in front of Dragan. The man, around three metres away, continues to breath a little longer, until the sniper fires at him again, rupturing his head.
Dragan’s acquaintance, Emina, was impacted by the sniper as well, and she was carried back to safety by strangers behind the boxcar. Before Dragan moves to assist his friend, he lifts the deceased man’s hat. “Dragan looks down and sees that the hat is in his hands. He doesn’t remember picking it up, has no idea why he’d do such a thing. He looks at the hat, runs his thumb along the brim, and then he leans down and sets it on the asphalt before turning to Emina” (Galloway 136).
After initially reading this passage, I was perplexed to its meaning. It would be rather difficult to own material that a deceased person wore moments prior to the explosion of their head. Nevertheless, Dragan ignored the carcass that was only three metres from him, his head collapsed. Dragan ignored the chaos that erupted while people brought Emina to safety. Dragan ignored his injured friend once she returned to the boxcar, ceasing to check her condition. He was blindly attracted by the hat.
Dragan is unconcerned by the surrounding pandemonium, and unconsciously settles for the hat. He is aware that his wounded companion deserves more attention, but his subconscious values luxurious goods over comforting an injured individual. This is an example of desensitization and desperation among the citizens caught in war.
SOURCES
Katja, K. “Sherlock Holmes.” Sherlock, Live Journal, 12 Apr. 2013. <http://katja-k.livejournal.com/2828717.html>.
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