How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
"If there is any trouble," he said, "take the poison and it will all be over." No one asked him what kind of trouble could be worse than death. They all seemed to know. (4.23)
Everyone seems to know what Uncle Mumpreh means—except Vahan, who's clueless when it comes to the ways of the world, and can't imagine why anyone could choose to die. It's important that we see Vahan like this—bright eyed and bushy tailed—in the beginning of the novel so we can appreciate how far he comes.
Quote #5
I did not know when I opened my eyes the next morning that it was the last day of my childhood. The day seemed no more ominous than the one before; my heart was no heavier, my fears no greater. As I walked down the stairs to the kitchen, I had no premonition that my family and I were about to share our last meal together. (5.1)
Since Vahan has the advantage of knowing what happens next, he sometimes slips into the present (of him writing) and tells us what is to come. The contrast between the all-knowing, darker Vahan of the future, and the innocent Vahan of the present allows us to see how these events really changed him.
Quote #6
I did not know what to do. I was supposed to be the one who got sick; I was supposed to be the one who Sisak nursed back to health. But somehow we had changed places, and now I was his older brother, his doctor and nurse. I was his last and only hope. (14.13)
Wishing that he had some help, Vahan laments the fact that he—the younger brother—has to take care of the older brother. It's not natural to him. Of course, nothing about the Armenian genocide is natural or makes sense, but Vahan is too caught up in his own troubles and way of life to see it.