Forgotten Fire by Adam Bagdasarian
Forgotten Fire People take their lives for granted too easily today. We do not know when something could happen to us or a loved one. Unexpected events take place to people all the time. In the book Forgotten Fire Adam Bagdasarian tells the real life story of how his uncle survived the Armenian Genocide in 1915. Vahan Kenderian, Adam’s uncle, was only twelve when many events started occurring. These events were unexpected and tragic in many ways to not only Vahan and his family, but also all of the Armenians. In a short time, Vahan lost his home and family and, to survive he was forced to live a life he could never have dreamed of. He went through many struggles and saw many horrors that a boy of that age should not have to go through or should have seen. Though, most of these events were very traumatic and life altering, Vahan was able to learn important life lessons as a result of the events. He was a strong and confident young boy and even through all of the hard times he still remained strong and was able to grow not only physically, but mentally and emotionally as well. The three most crucial events that helped him learn life lessons were when he witnessed his two older brothers’ murders, meeting a girl named Seranoush who became his friend, and how he had to work hard and fight for a place to live and survive. Vahan, a twelve year old Armenian boy at the time, did not know the significance of the first events. The Turkish started by taking out the intelligence of the Armenians first. This consisted of any people working for the government. Vahan's father, a lawyer, was included in this group. Vahan’s father was told that he was wanted at a government building for official business and was led away by two gendarmes one morning. His father was expected to be brought back in a few days, but he never returned. Vahan believed his father was shot and killed; along with many others that were taken. They then took away all of the men and older boys. Vahan stated