Summary Of Forgotten Fire By Adam Bagdasarian

In the novel Forgotten Fire by Adam Bagdasarian, Vahan Kenderian witnessed his world fall apart around him. First, his wise and disciplinary Father is taken away and never heard from again, then his two oldest brothers are shot in front of his eyes. Finally, he is taken away from his home and taken to a dilapidated inn. After he and his brother run away, he is forced to travel across Turkey with nowhere to go. Without his father’s wise words, he is forced to repeat that it all will build character and make him stronger. As the years went on, he met many new people, and he was them each differently. After the loss of his parents, Vahan searched for a parent figure in many of the people he met.

After he runs away from the prisoners, Vahan and

Ara is a large, old man who used to work as a strong man in his village. Vahan looks for a father figure in him. They first meet when Vahan has run away from the nomadic tribe that he had been staying with. He finds Ara when he is walking through a small village and Ara and Serop, another boy Ara saved, are talking in Armenian. To hear Armenian gives Vahan such a surge of hope, he immediately goes over and Ara takes him in. Much like Mrs.Altoonian, he keeps Vahan in a back room for their safety. When they are eating dinner, he says that he feels at home, that he feels as though he is with his family. “... I felt very much at home, as though I were sharing a meal with my grandfather and a favorite cousin.”(183). Ara and Serop are both kind and gentle, and that is why he feels this way. Also, Ara tells Vahan that is very similar to things Vahan’s father used to tell him. Vahan’s father used to tell Vahan to build character, and Ara says “... your heart, your character, your faith, do not belong to time.”(188). It is this similarity in views that makes Vahan see him as a father figure. Ara talks about teaching Serop a trade, and that he couldn’t learn a trade if it killed him. The paternal bond between Serop and Ara makes Vahan feel more at home. He originally thought that they were grandfather and grandson, but as it turned out, they were not related at all. This made Vahan feel more in place because it gave him hope

He thought he was too young or too small, and all of this turned out to be true. He the shocked Dr. and Mrs. Tashian but telling them to disregard his size and age and that he would be able to do the work. It payed off and he ends up staying with them, over time, he feels as though Dr. Tashian is softening and that he doesn’t feel as though he was a servant. He said “ As the days passed I began to feel less like a servant and more like a son. The chores that I did were the chores any child would do for his mother and father,...”(201). They grew together over time and became a family. Mrs. Tashian was, from the beginning, very motherly. She is very kind and accepting, and always treats Vahan as a son. When he brings Seta to the house after she is abandoned, both Dr. and Mrs. Tashian accept her and offer to help raise her child. In the time that he stays with them, Dr. and Mrs. Tashian were always there for Vahan. Dr. Tashian rarely gives Vahan compliments, but Vahan always knows to was just who he is. The Doctor was a very solemn and humble man and expected similar from Vahan. Although he did become a father figure for Vahan, Dr. Tashian was always very professional and rigid around his wife and