Forgotten Fire Analysis

The Armenian Genocide is the forgotten genocide. Known to be the fourth largest genocide ever, an estimated 1,500,000 Armenians were killed, and yet the average person has never heard of it. Forgotten Fire is a fictional book by Adam Bagdasarian about the Armenian Genocide. In this book Vahan, the main character, is an Armenian. Vahan is a privileged boy and the son of a well known, well respected man. Vahan is used to comfort, wealth, and security, until the start of the genocide. When the genocide starts his father is taken away and his brothers are shot. Vahan and the rest of his family are brought by soldiers to Goryan’s Inn and later on a kind of death march. During this, Vahan’s grandmother and sister, Armenouhi, both die. Vahan’s mother decides the best chance for Vahan and his brother to survive is to escape the soldiers. The brothers are able to escape, but the next day they are separated and Vahan is forced to start surviving alone. Vahan will have to learn and adapt in order to survive as an Armenian in the middle of Turkey during the Armenian Genocide. The more time Vahan spends away from his family, the more he becomes who his father wanted him to be. Throughout the book Vahan becomes much more independent. …show more content…
Early in the book after Vahan and Sisak escape they are on their own and in cold and harsh conditions. Vahan is ready to give up, but Sisak keeps pushing him. “Without Sisak I would have only myself, and I was not enough, not nearly enough” (pg. 56). On their way to Sanis, Sisak is always looking out for Vahan and taking care of him. Throughout the book, Vahan is always meeting new people and leaving, and during this process he learns independence. Vahan knows that he can not trust anyone and learns how to survive on his own, by learning to beg, and learning how to act Turkish. He also learns how to problem solve and make his own decisions, one place this is evident is when Vahan is leaving the Tashians and knows he must move on to a safer place. “I stood in a line of would-be wagon drivers, nervously waiting for my turn. In preparation for this moment, I had stolen a Turkish army uniform from one of several boxes outside the army barracks a mile from the town” (pg. 234-235). He makes a plan and is resourceful, things the Vahan at the beginning of the book would not have done. Vahan has learned what it takes to survive and is now able to make decisions on his own and no longer has to rely on other people. This is one of the things Vahan’s father thought was important for Vahan to have. As Vahan continues on his journey he also learns to have integrity. Integrity was a quality that Vahan recognized as one of the things his father tried to teach him. In the beginning Vahan is often fooling around, at school and with his friends. He even says that “Father Ossian said I had a poor attitude” (pg.6). Early in the book he never worried about being known as a fair and honest man like his father. Vahan really starts to show the integrity he has developed throughout his journey when he is with the refugees. He has finally found a way for himself to get food and stay safe, he even has people that he considers friends, Sait and Shirin. But one day the group of refugees come across an Armenian in rough condition with two soldiers. Instead of helping the group of refugees allows the soldiers to kill the man and are unfazed by it. “I was not Galib, and this was not my home and these people were not my family. I had known that the second I heard the shot” (pg. 173). Even though Vahan is in a good place he decides to leave the group because he believes what they are doing is morally wrong. Just like his father would have done, Vahan refuses to be part of something he doesn’t believe even if he is benefiting in some ways. Vahan’s determination is one of the things that led to his survival, but he hadn’t always been determined. Vahan’s father always thought determination was an important quality to have. Before