After reading Forgotten Fire, we feel like we'll never have anything to complain about again. The horrors Vahan goes through are hard to imagine, especially for a twelve-year-old. Cold, hunger, emotional and physical abuse, rape, murder, starvation, guilt, the horror of the marches—all these play heavily into the suffering of the characters, especially Vahan. Set during the Turkish-Armenian war, suffering is the rule, not the exception in this book.
Questions About Suffering
- What are the various forms of suffering we encounter in the novel? Have you experienced any of these?
- If a reader doesn't know much about the Armenian genocide, does the novel adequately express the suffering Armenians experienced during this time? Why or why not? How does Vahan's experience differ from his sister's or brothers'?
- Is guilt connected to suffering in Forgotten Fire? Why or why not? Should Vahan feel guilty about surviving something that killed his family?
- How does Vahan cope with suffering? Does he learn how to deal with it over the course of the novel?
Chew on This
The fact that Vahan suffers an unthinkable and unfair amount in the novel shows us how horrific the Armenian genocide was.
Despite the horrible things Vahan sees, his experience is actually less traumatic than that of most other characters in the novel. Compared to Seta or Seranoush, for instance, Vahan has it easy.