The Forty Days of Masu Dagh Book Analysis Essay Example

'The Forty Days of Masu Dagh' is a historical fiction novel where the story exists in 1915: when the Armenian genocide had just begun. The tale is about a World War I Armenian soldier who lived among the rest of the people with his wife and son in turkey. But, as time passed, a discovery where many victims have been tortured and abused by the Turk soldiers. Due to this horrific tale, the Armenian soldier named Gabriel declared a call for action, causing many of the French and his people to fight against the Turks. For, they don't want to die in horrific ways as all the other victims have. With this tale, most mentioned Armenians fighting back and succeeding, but there weren't many indications as to what was truly going on with the Armenians when they tried to fight back. The novel may give an insight into what the Armenians were experiencing during this hell. 

In book one, the novel mentions the need to take away the passports of those from different cultures, such as the Armenians. But when Gabriel attempted to gain access to the Visa, at least his wife and son's but there was no luck. Through the dialogue, there seems to be sudden info that didn't feel relevant to the story, especially with sudden reveals of characters such as the priest. The events seemed more mixed in that it'll take multiple re-reads to understand or grasp the situation. 

As the tale progressed, the storyline continued to books two and three; the number of details regarding the situation and introductions of characters felt less overwhelming as it felt as if it was focussing on the storyline. The most impactful scene within that novel was the death of Stephen and the impact it had on the entire group. The perspective of Stephen interacting with others and remaining with a smile despite the dire situation was the saddest moment of the novel. It gets a little worse when everyone else sees his corpse. This makes Gabriel spiral down, costing the sides shifting and the base getting attacked by Turks. 

So, despite the novel having an impactful story of how the battle went on between the Armenians and Turks, there were moments in the beginning that felt misplaced and overwhelming to read due to the information and details suddenly being placed. Only when the story reached about halfway has it felt that it began to have a sense of development and consistent time in the perspectives of all characters used. Although it would be more effective to have moments where the reader knows the perspective will shift to another character rather than suddenly add them in. Especially due to the amount of characters used in the novel, it grew confusing as to who is most important and who is just on the sidelines.