The Cellist of Sarajevo

Dragan

Dragan is relieved to discover that Emina was only shot in the elbow. He gains a new insight into the debate they had about whether it is better to die outright or to be seriously. He realizes that he wants to live, whether he is seriously wounded or not. And this leads Dragan to a major epiphany about the real meaning of life: “Wouldn’t it be better to get one last look at the world, even a gray and spoiled version, than to plunge without warning into darkness? What makes the difference, he realizes, is whether you want to stay in the world you live in. Because while he will always be afraid of death, and nothing can change that, the question is whether your life is worth that fear” (158).

This is a major realization for the depressed and melancholy Dragan, whose greatest fear in life is death. In fact, Dragan had expressed the wish to just die if he was wounded, because he fears a slow death; knowing that one is going to die and being able to do nothing to stop it. But his experiences are beginning to change his ideas about life and about the world; he now realizes that what is important is to live, to live as long as one can.