Counting

Did you notice that whenever Vahan gets in a sticky situation, he counts? He might consider a career on Sesame Street. You may be wondering what Vahan's love for numbers is all about though, so let's hear it from him directly. Vahan tells us:

I did not want to think at all. I closed my eyes and began to count. I had never counted to more than five hundred before, so I counted to five hundred, then to six hundred. At that moment I would gladly have traded my life to become a number, to be four or five or fifty-two, with no sorrows and nothing to fear. (12.1)

Hmmm… so the numbers calm him down, that's for sure. They take his mind off of the horrible stuff he's seen and experienced, and help him focus on something else—something empty of complicated meaning or terrible imagery. He often counts when he's bored too because, well, there's not much to do in a stable all day after you take care of the horses. With no friends, books, or television to pass the time with, he's got to preoccupy himself somehow—and there are a lot of numbers in the world.

We also think Vahan likes to count because it's simple—he says he wishes that he could trade his life in for a number. It would certainly be much easier for him; after all, numbers don't have to watch their brothers get shot or their grandma die right in front of them. Vahan wants his life to be less complicated, and numbers certainly have that going for them.

He may witness immeasurable loss and violence, but any time he needs to quiet his mind or pass time, Vahan can slip away from it all into the rhythm of counting.