Where It All Goes Down
1915 Turkey
One of the first things we learn about Vahan is the following:
I was born in Bitlis, a province of Turkey, at the base of the Musguneyi Mountains of the east. It was a beautiful city. (1.1)
Note that right off the bat, Vahan's home is described as beautiful… in the past. It's a fitting description, of course, since the whole book is about Vahan's personal experience during the Turkish-Armenian war. So while we might be learning about one guy and his journey, we're also learning about a terrible time in history—the Armenian genocide.
Vahan gives us a face to follow through this terrible epoch when over a million people died, so it's important for us to learn about what Turkey was and what it is by the end of the novel—a transformation that happens before Vahan's very eyes. As we watch the charming city with cobbled streets change to a place filled with death and decay, it helps us understand just how terrible the war that's taking place in it is.