Mass Tragedy of the Armenian Genocide
Balakian’s memoir is fundamentally about the tragic history of the Armenian people during the early 20th century. The Armenian Genocide, the first genocide of the century, led to the extermination of over a million Armenians and consequently the dispersing of the survivors all around the world. Balakian accounts for this tragic event through his family’s experience as they were among the survivors of the 1915 massacre. He captures the suffering of his people during this dreadful exercise by the Ottoman Turkish government that almost led to the annihilation of a whole ethnic group. Furthermore, highlighting the controversy of the genocide in that the Turkish government continues to deny its occurrence and attribute the deaths to World War I. However, Balakian as the first generation of the survivors conveys firsthand accounts of what happened to his ancestors.
Survival
The memoir is a tragic account but in essence, it is a story of survival in the face of great adversity. Balakian as the first generation of his family to be born in the United States contrasts his experiences and what his grandmother had to go through to ensure her survival. His grandmother survived the death march which saw the deaths of many but she pulled through with her two young children. Despite being just a young woman trying to raise a family she endured all the hardships and made a life for his family. Balakian highlights the effects the genocide had on the Armenians who survived it and how they coped being deported to unfamiliar territories.
Family History
Balakian utilizes the perspective of his family history to account for the general history of the Armenian people and their experiences. He contrasts his privileged upbringing with the hardship his grandmother and parents had to go through to build a future for him. As a young child he was not fully aware of the dark past that haunts his family till in adulthood where he grasps the magnitude of their history. Henceforth, Balakian explores the haunting truth of the Armenian holocaust that his family particularly his grandmother had to endure to persevere the ordeal.
