View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. When Kenan is first introduced in Chapter One, it is revealed that he will soon celebrate which birthday?

2. The men on the hills who are waging the Siege of Sarajevo are encamped at Vraca, an elevated what?

3. What is the name of the man Dragan pretends not to see in Chapter One, though he knows and likes him?

4. Which character does Dragan actively dislike?

5. Everything is said to now cost how many times as much as it had before the onset of the siege?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does the tram symbolize in Kenan's memory of the siege's first day?

2. What does Dragan do for a living and what is his family situation?

3. Discuss the meaning of the Leon Trotsky quote Galloway includes as an epigraph.

4. Who is Mrs. Ristovski?

5. What does the reader learn about life in Sarajevo during the siege, in relation to electricity and water?

6. In what way does Galloway use word choice to suggest the anxiety Kenan feels as he walks through his devastated city?

7. Describe Arrow’s path to becoming a sniper working to defend Sarajevo against the siege.

8. What is the significance of Albinoni’s adagio from the cellist’s perspective and why?

9. For what reason does the cellist need protection and from whom?

10. What task must Kenan undertake every four days throughout the siege and why?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What ultimate message is Galloway sending about the nature and value of compassion?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss Galloway's choice to tell the story of The Cellist of Sarajevo using the perspectives of three Sarajavan citizens. What elements of the novel's themes lend themselves to this choice and what are Galloway’s intended effects on the reader?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss Galloway's treatment of truth, lies, and hypocrisy within the text of The Cellist of Sarajevo.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 926 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample