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Dehumanization In Forgotten Fire By Adam Bagdasarian

1612 Words7 Pages

Dehumanization is the psychological process of demonizing the enemy, making them seem less than human and hence not worthy of humane treatment. This can lead to violence, deprivation of human rights, war crimes and genocide. Genocide is defined as the deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular ethnic group or nation. Throughout history, dehumanization has had a big impact on the world. People have been objectified, demonized, tortured, murdered and raped. Forgotten Fire by Adam Bagdasarian is a book based on the true story of a young boy’s life during the Armenian genocide. Vahan Kenderian was born into a well known, affluent family. He was comfortable and happy with his lifestyle. He had five siblings, (Diran, Tavel, Oskina, Armenouhi and Sisak) wonderful …show more content…

After Vahan and Sisak escaped from the campground where his mother and Oskina were, they walked for hours to find refuge and fell asleep under a mulberry tree. Vahan was rudely awakened by a Turkish man holding a gun up to him. He ordered Vahan to strip off his clothes and took advantage of him. He dehumanized Vahan by objectifying him to satisfy his own filthy needs. “With a bony hand so filthy I could not see the skin, he began to rub me. I stood very still, not understanding at first...The man continued to rub me, harder now, his gun at his side, and I thought I could not stand still much longer, that I would have to do something to stop. But I only cried harder” (Bagdasarian 60). Vahan was not sure of what that man was doing but all he knew was that he shouldn’t have been touched that way. He was molested and dehumanized by a Turkish man and if not for Sisak, Vahan would have been possibly raped and killed. The Turkish man did not care that he was damaging a young boy’s life forever because to him, Vahan had no life or

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