Historical Fiction - Forgotten Fire

Forgotten Fire written by Adam Bagdasarian is a historical fiction novel based on a genocide many have either forgotten or never knew exisited. In the early 1900's the world was preparing for the first world war, but did not know it. In Turkey there was a rising distain for the Armanians living amongst them as business men, neighbors and friends. As the Great War erupted so had the hatred for the Armenian people. The Turkish Army first sought out the influencial and educated Armenian men, then the young boys and along the way destroyed women and babies. They set out to eliminate a whole people. It seemed as though, years later, Hitler was unoriginal and simply took cues from the history around him.

I tell my students every year that it is our job to learn from history or else we will be condemmed to repeat it. Even now the phrase seems rather bleak, but after having read this book I find the Holocaust, Sarajevo, Rwanda, Darfur even more disgusting. I would love to have my students read this book and draw comparisons to the Holocaust. Students across our nation study in detail the Holocaust in all it's horror and tragidy. Typically however, that's all we study in schools. How then could I be so bold as to tell each new wave of students that they are bound by the history already lived? I believe that drawing comparisons and showing students the underlying causes in each case are the answer.

In seventh grade the students currently read, Alicia, My Story. This is a memoire of a young girl who survived the Holocaust. Recently another novel has been added to diversify the classrooms and offers an alternative vantage point to readers. I believe the Holocaust unit could be more powerful if we study the reasons for and effects of genocide through the ages. People want to believe that because it is 2009 or because it's not happening in their town that it is not our problem. Time after time we see however that in every case, the Armenians, Jews, and Tutsis found themselves in as difficult a place because "it's not our problem" was muttered until evidence was on their neighbor's lawns.

I found this book to shed light on a time in history few American's know about. I appreciated the first hand account, point of view, of the text. The tragic events that unfolded into Vahan's, the main character's, life add to the readers desire to watch Vahan live. I liked that the main character is a teenage boy and that he is a realistic character a person of any age or gender could relate to. He does not pretend to be brave like the actor in a movie, Vahan is real. He makes the reader feel the weight of this tragedy in history.

There are sites which are designed to assist teachers in discussing this genocide with students and there are sites which are simply there which serve as an account of the horror. The novel opens with a quote from Adolf Hitler, "Who does now remember the Armenians?" He used this line as clout for his extermination plans. I think that it would be extremely powerful for students to watch how an evil man chose to learn from history in a different way than how I challenge them. Throughout the novel readers learn about real places from a real time in history. Students are put into a historical timeline as events of World War I are carefully woven into the story.

I enjoyed reading this story and look forward to rereading it as well as researching the Armenian genocide. I would encourage others to read this novel and to have an understanding of how World War I began, to know who was fighting for who will amaze those who read this as well. To know the greatest of all wars was simultaniously occurring with this massacre simply makes Vahan's survival more miraculous and adds to the readers relief. I believe this story to be historically accurate, based on my current knowledge, but still have more research to do on the topic. I look forward to proposing this novel be added to the curriculum in my school, but at the very least am prepared to purchase a few copies to keep in my classroom for those who choose to read about it.

Works Cited


Armenian National Institute, "Armenian National Institute." Armenian National Institute. 2005. Armenian National Institute. 24 Jul 2009 http://www.armenian-genocide.org/index.htm.

Bagdasarian, Adam. Forgotten Fire. New York, NY: Dell Laurel-Leaf, 2000. Print.

Kojian, Raffi. "Armenian Genocide." Armeniapedia The Armenia Encyclopedia. 23 Oct 2008. 27 Jul 2009 http://www.armeniapedia.org/index.php?title=Armenian_Genocide.