The Cellist of Sarajevo: Two: Kenan Summary & Analysis

Kenan walks down the street in the same direction he would if the building he used to work in were still standing. He pretends he is just going to work, and that he’ll have an ordinary day. But too soon, Kenan must pass the neighborhood trash bins, overflowing with refuse, and remember than nothing is as it should be. Kenan wonders if the men on the hill can see him, and he wonders what makes someone a target in their eyes.

Kenan walks up to the grocery store hoping to see news about the next relief convoy. There is nothing posted, though it has been more than a month since aid has reached the city. Kenan then sees an old friend, Ismet, who has joined the army. Ismet has told Kenan about the fighting at the front, about nights of praying not to die as mortar shells rain down.

Kenan wonders why he can’t force himself to join the army, though he knows it’s only a matter of time until he is forcibly drafted. At the bottom of his heart, Kenan knows that he is afraid to die, but even more afraid to kill. Ismet is a far braver man, and Kenan feels guilty that his friend has seen so much while Kenan stays relatively safe.

Today, Ismet looks particularly worn and has a slight limp from a recent injury. Kenan hugs Ismet and they joke about buying meat at the grocery store. Ismet gives Kenan a cigarette, his pay from the army, and wishes Kenan luck getting water. Kenan smokes, then continues on with his water canisters. Kenan laughs when he sees an unbroken traffic mirror, one of the few undamaged things on the Sarajevo streets.

Kenan keeps walking, passing by the Music Academy. Several people are inside playing pianos, making a cacophonous sound that is sometimes recognizable as music. Another block farther, Kenan comes to his old tram stop. For Kenan, the tram is a sign of civilization and the war will only be over once the trams begin to run again. Two blocks to the west is the marketplace, where food is now sold at ridiculously high prices. Kenan is quickly running out of money, as he watches others get rich from smuggling goods onto the black market through a tunnel that goes through the airport.

Kenan puts the black market out of his mind and continues his journey. He can’t help but wonder how Sarajevo will rebuild when the fighting finally stops. He remembers taking Christmas trips to this street to look at the holiday decorations, but he can’t reconcile that memory with the reality in front of him. He refocuses on his journey, hoping to cross the Miljacka River over the Princip Bridge instead of the Cumurija bridge that has been shelled.

Kenan passes the Hotel Europa, once the Stone Inn before it was destroyed by the Great Fire. Kenan wonders if the aftermath of the Great Fire looked like Sarajevo does now. Kenan wants to be one of the people who reconstructs Sarajevo after the war is over, but he doesn’t know how to keep the men on the hill or the black-market abusers from being a part of that.

The Princip Bridge used to be called the Latin Bridge before 1914 when Archduke Franz Ferdinand was killed by Gavrilo Princip. Kenan has always been ashamed that this assassination is what Sarajevo is known for by the international community, but he now thinks that the world is trying to ignore Sarajevo.

Kenan meets a man running around the corner who warns him that snipers are targeting the Princip Bridge. Kenan decides to continue down to the Seher Cehaja bridge instead, though that will double the distance of his trip. Kenan enters the old Turkish neighborhood, feeling like he is re-entering the scene of a crime. The library burned months ago, but Kenan cannot get that sight out of his mind.

Staying under the cover of the buildings, Kenan notices an old man fishing for pigeons by dangling bread on a pole. Kenan jokes with him about getting a license for this hunting, as the man explains that he has caught six and will stop for the day so that the pigeons will still be here tomorrow. Kenan wonders if that’s what the men on the hill are doing – killing just enough Sarajevans each day so that people will continue going out into the street.