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Forgotten Fire Analysis

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Forgotten Fire Analysis
Lit Circle - Culture Commentator

In the novel, Forgotten Fire, written by Adam Bagdasarian, the main culture presented to the reader is the oppressive Turkish culture. The idea of this culture being dominant can be identified through the distinctly negative behavior towards Armenians.

The culture affects the plot of the story by impeding Vahan’s goal to survive properly. Within the novel, the Armenians in the novel struggle to survive in this state of oppression from the Turkish. The Turkish can be seen exhibiting these violent acts when a “bullet passed through [an Armenian’s] mouth” (Bagdasarian 172). The Turkish are notably still against the Armenians and enabled Vahan to find his way out of the Turkish household which may have been where Vahan would have met his demise, if not for the Turkish’s shooting and negative behavior. The oppressive Turkish culture is also present when the General states to Vahan, “I’ve killed Armenians before-- men and boys” (Bagdasarian 148). The culture affects the plot in this way because of the General’s aggression towards the Armenian men and children. There
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In the novel, there is a scene which captures how harshly the plight of the Armenians went. When Mrs. Tashian was taking care of Vahan, he’d constantly see her being “plagued by crippling headaches and sometimes staying in her room all day” (Bagdasarian 202). The women is heavily impacted by the oppressive Turkish culture by disturbing her mentally and making her fatigued constantly. Another instance of the Turkish culture negatively impacting the characters within this novel is when Vahan discovers that Seta is “pregnant” and was used as a prostitute (Bagdasarian 215). The scene depicts how poorly the Armenian characters in the story had been treated. Therefore, the oppressive culture of the Turkish inhibits some characters in the

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