The Cellist of Sarajevo

In the novel, gray is the color of loss and sorrow. Gray signifies a lack of emotion, sadness, and emptiness. It is not surprising that Galloway uses this color so profusely in a novel about people who are becoming desensitized to war and who are losing their faith in the future.. 

Gray, in this novel, captures the characters’ feelings of futility in the face of war. Gray—which is neither black nor white—also captures the colorlessness of life during war, life without natural beauty and color. Buildings are bombed out and breaking down. There is a lack of growth and fertility in wartime, so gray captures both the futility and fruitlessness of this time period for Sarajevo.

Significantly, Galloway’s use of gray—a combination of white and black, the colors which respectively symbolize good and evil—suggests the moral ambiguity of war, the difficulty of determining who or what, is right or wrong. 

Wildflowers in this novel represent change, redemption, and rebirth. Sarajevo’s citizens throw wildflowers down for the cellist every day for the 22 days that he plays. The flowers are gifts for the cellist and symbolize the color and life that his music represents and which has renewed their hope in life and the world.