cam-the old country

“If I was relieved that my mother had given me an answer, I was unsettled that the answer had unfurled more questions. The old country. That phrase that came up now and again. A phrase that seemed to have a lock on it. I knew it meant Armenia, but it made me uneasy. If I asked about the old country, the adults would change the subject. Once my mother said ‘It’s an ancient place, it’s not really around anymore.’ Where had it gone? I asked myself”(p. 16)

In the above quotation, the reader is introduced to the idea that Armenia as a subject is uncomfortable to speak about. Even among an Armenian family the past is not discussed, and if the topic is introduced to conversation they feel the need to change topics immediately. Due to the horrible circumstance that Armenia had been in during the early nineteen hundreds, they choose just to forget about their past and not speak of what occurred. The events that took place are too horrible to bring up again or even educate their children on the issue. It seems to me that even though the Aroosians try to hold onto some Armenian traditions, such as their cooking or their language, they try to disregard the genocide that took place on their people. They stay connected with their Armenian culture, but in a way they think of it as a thing of the past, referring to Armenia as the “old country” and refusing to speak about it. While reading this chapter, it seemed to me as if Balakian tried to portray that the Aroosians think of themselves as very American as well as Armenian, demonstrating that they had adopted many American cultural identities such as following baseball.