What is the theme?

Memory:

Now, after all that has happened, Dragan knows that the Sarajevo he remembers, the city he grew up in and was proud of and happy with, likely never existed. If he looks around him, it's hard to see what once was, or maybe was. More and more it seems like there has never been anything here but the men on the hills with guns and bombs. Somehow that doesn't seem right either, yet these are the only two options.

"I can't remember if we were like that, or just think we were. It seems impossible to remember what things were like." And he suspects this is what the men on the hills want most. They would, of course, like to kill them all, but if they can't, they would like to make them forget how they used to be, how civilized people act. He wonders how long it will take before they succeed.

The Atrocities of War

Dragan, fearful of getting hurt by the atrocities of the war, chooses to isolate himself from everyone so that he will have no reason to mourn. Galloway presents this as an understandable choice, given how dangerous the city has become and the hardships that Dragan has had to endure. Dragan is even lonelier because he felt forced to send his wife and son to safety in Italy so they would be able to live freely. Yet however noble it was that Dragan stayed in a city that is being destroyed every day, Galloway also shows that Dragan has been a coward to avoid human interaction. In order to survive this conflict with his mental health and sanity intact, Dragan must continue to connect with other people. It does render him vulnerable to pain, but it also gives him the opportunity to share his burdens.