The Knock at the Door by margaret ajemian ahnert
Summary
The Knock at the Door is a memoir written by Margaret Ajemian Ahnert about the Armenian Genocide. The memoir switches between Margaret’s perspective and her mother Ester’s perspective throughout the work; time shifts between these perspectives where Margaret’s portions of the memoir are accounts of her visits with her mother in a nursing home while Ester’s perspective deals with her experiences through 1915 and 1920.
The memoir begins with Margaret’s perspective which demonstrates some of the ways in which her mother’s experiences influence her life. The perspective then shifts to Ester’s point of view, and it begins a description of her life in Amasia before the Turkish soldiers came. It is in Ester’s teenage years when her brother, who is a Turkish soldier, warns Easter and her family to flee because of the murder of many Armenian families by Turkish people.
It is towards the middle of the memoir that reader begins to see some of the violence towards Armenians in Ester’s town, Amasia. Ester witnesses a hanging of a young Armenian man, the forced removal of Armenian men, and the burning of the Armenian church with people still inside. Also, during this time Ester's father was among the Armenian men that were jailed and taken from their families. Ester’s story continues to describe how she and her family were forced out of her house along with other Armenians and were ordered to march through the desert under the threat of death from Turkish soldiers. Ester tells how many Armenian were then robbed, beaten, starved, raped, and killed by Turkish soldiers. Many young girls were taken by soldiers but Ester avoided this because her Grandmother cut her face with a rock to appear ugly.
At one point in this march Ester describes a bad rainstorm with flash flooding, which cause many children to be lost in the mudslides, including Ester’s stepbrother Arsen. Not shortly after that Ester witnessed the death of Grandmother by Turkish guards for not being able to keep up with the rest of the group. Ester soon became sick and was only able to survive because a woman, Seranoush, tricked the Turkish men into believing that she was dead. Ester was thrown in with the dead bodies, only to be save by Seranoush later that night.
After surviving being left of dead, Seranoush takes Ester to the house of Hanum and Yousouf Bey, where she acts as a maid. Hanum states that she wishes that Ester will be the daughter that she never had. However, Ester overhears Turkish men bragging about the crimes they commited against Armenians, she wishes to leave. After hearing this, Hanum drugs Ester and allows her husband to rape Ester before she takes Ester to an orphanage. The abuse continues at the orphanage, where Ester is molested by one of the women in charge at the orphanage when she was forced to strip to be deloused. Ester leaves the orphanage, only to be taken by and forcibly married to a Turkish man, Shamil.
Years pass where Ester remains married to Shamil, who treats her more like a slave than a wife and beats her regularly. This changes one day when she see her brother, Haroutou, passing in a wagon on the street. When she runs to him, he helps her escape her husband and his abuse by informing her of a place that she can stay. This place was the home of one Armenian family whose lives were spared because they were blacksmiths and thus useful craftsmen. The Bagradian family took Ester back to her hometown of Amasia, where she was taken in by several different families. Eventually, Ester is able to get to America after being given a third class passenger ticket and a false passport and surviving horrible living conditions on the boat.
The Ester's portion of the memoir ends with her new life in America, where she meets and falls in love with her husband Albert. The memoir ends with Margaret's telling of her mother's death at the age of 99.
The memoir begins with Margaret’s perspective which demonstrates some of the ways in which her mother’s experiences influence her life. The perspective then shifts to Ester’s point of view, and it begins a description of her life in Amasia before the Turkish soldiers came. It is in Ester’s teenage years when her brother, who is a Turkish soldier, warns Easter and her family to flee because of the murder of many Armenian families by Turkish people.
It is towards the middle of the memoir that reader begins to see some of the violence towards Armenians in Ester’s town, Amasia. Ester witnesses a hanging of a young Armenian man, the forced removal of Armenian men, and the burning of the Armenian church with people still inside. Also, during this time Ester's father was among the Armenian men that were jailed and taken from their families. Ester’s story continues to describe how she and her family were forced out of her house along with other Armenians and were ordered to march through the desert under the threat of death from Turkish soldiers. Ester tells how many Armenian were then robbed, beaten, starved, raped, and killed by Turkish soldiers. Many young girls were taken by soldiers but Ester avoided this because her Grandmother cut her face with a rock to appear ugly.
At one point in this march Ester describes a bad rainstorm with flash flooding, which cause many children to be lost in the mudslides, including Ester’s stepbrother Arsen. Not shortly after that Ester witnessed the death of Grandmother by Turkish guards for not being able to keep up with the rest of the group. Ester soon became sick and was only able to survive because a woman, Seranoush, tricked the Turkish men into believing that she was dead. Ester was thrown in with the dead bodies, only to be save by Seranoush later that night.
After surviving being left of dead, Seranoush takes Ester to the house of Hanum and Yousouf Bey, where she acts as a maid. Hanum states that she wishes that Ester will be the daughter that she never had. However, Ester overhears Turkish men bragging about the crimes they commited against Armenians, she wishes to leave. After hearing this, Hanum drugs Ester and allows her husband to rape Ester before she takes Ester to an orphanage. The abuse continues at the orphanage, where Ester is molested by one of the women in charge at the orphanage when she was forced to strip to be deloused. Ester leaves the orphanage, only to be taken by and forcibly married to a Turkish man, Shamil.
Years pass where Ester remains married to Shamil, who treats her more like a slave than a wife and beats her regularly. This changes one day when she see her brother, Haroutou, passing in a wagon on the street. When she runs to him, he helps her escape her husband and his abuse by informing her of a place that she can stay. This place was the home of one Armenian family whose lives were spared because they were blacksmiths and thus useful craftsmen. The Bagradian family took Ester back to her hometown of Amasia, where she was taken in by several different families. Eventually, Ester is able to get to America after being given a third class passenger ticket and a false passport and surviving horrible living conditions on the boat.
The Ester's portion of the memoir ends with her new life in America, where she meets and falls in love with her husband Albert. The memoir ends with Margaret's telling of her mother's death at the age of 99.
Themes
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Quotes
“In 1939, when Adolf Hitler was questioned about his plan to kill all men, women, and children of Poland, he answered, ‘Who, after all, speaks today of the anni-hilation of the Armenians?’” Today, this telling quote is displayed prominently in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C....I write, not for revenge, but for the record: of my mother, of me."
"'Do not trust any Turkish friends you may think you have, because they will betray you.' Then he told us a story about two families he knew in a neighboring town who had lived next door to one another for three generations. The Turkish husband said to his Armenian neighbor, 'Don’t worry, your family and mine have been friends for years. Your children and mine are playmates. Your wife and my wife are best friends. I will not let any of you suffer. I will hone and sharpen my knives every day so that when the order comes, I will slit all of your throats swiftly and cleanly. You and your family will not experience any pain or suffering. This I vow to you, my dear friend.' My mouth dropped open. I could not believe my ears".
"Mother, like me, never had a chance to say goodbye. I was thirteen when I lost my father. Mother was fifteen when she lost hers. We are linked, yes, by cells and skin, twisted bits of DNA; and then this. We are linked by loss."
"'That’s what they all tried to do to me. They beat me to bend, but I fooled them. I never bent in my heart, only with my body. Margaret, you must not be rigid. A tree that is rigid will break. You must be like this little tree; you must always know when to bend. You know the Turks told me never to speak Armenian. I obeyed. But they couldn’t stop me from thinking in Armenian'"
“Boud-a-getchere, ‘this, too, shall pass,’ remember that always,” Mother said to Lynn. “No matter what happens to you in life, remember those words. Saying boud-a-getchere again and again kept me alive many times. When I was close to death and alone on the road, a woman named Seranoush whispered it in my ear and saved my life.”
"When she got to 1915, our guide said, 'In 1915, all the Greeks and Armenians living in Turkey simultaneously decided to go back to their own countries and left en masse.' The official Turkish tour guide told this story to every group every day. I quickly wrote down what she said, fearing I would not remember the exact wording. She leaned over my shoulder and asked why I was writing down what she said. 'Because I want to be sure I will remember it correctly,' I replied. She read my writing and proudly announced, 'Yes, that’s right, you have it right.' The killing of a culture was still going on."
"'Do not trust any Turkish friends you may think you have, because they will betray you.' Then he told us a story about two families he knew in a neighboring town who had lived next door to one another for three generations. The Turkish husband said to his Armenian neighbor, 'Don’t worry, your family and mine have been friends for years. Your children and mine are playmates. Your wife and my wife are best friends. I will not let any of you suffer. I will hone and sharpen my knives every day so that when the order comes, I will slit all of your throats swiftly and cleanly. You and your family will not experience any pain or suffering. This I vow to you, my dear friend.' My mouth dropped open. I could not believe my ears".
"Mother, like me, never had a chance to say goodbye. I was thirteen when I lost my father. Mother was fifteen when she lost hers. We are linked, yes, by cells and skin, twisted bits of DNA; and then this. We are linked by loss."
"'That’s what they all tried to do to me. They beat me to bend, but I fooled them. I never bent in my heart, only with my body. Margaret, you must not be rigid. A tree that is rigid will break. You must be like this little tree; you must always know when to bend. You know the Turks told me never to speak Armenian. I obeyed. But they couldn’t stop me from thinking in Armenian'"
“Boud-a-getchere, ‘this, too, shall pass,’ remember that always,” Mother said to Lynn. “No matter what happens to you in life, remember those words. Saying boud-a-getchere again and again kept me alive many times. When I was close to death and alone on the road, a woman named Seranoush whispered it in my ear and saved my life.”
"When she got to 1915, our guide said, 'In 1915, all the Greeks and Armenians living in Turkey simultaneously decided to go back to their own countries and left en masse.' The official Turkish tour guide told this story to every group every day. I quickly wrote down what she said, fearing I would not remember the exact wording. She leaned over my shoulder and asked why I was writing down what she said. 'Because I want to be sure I will remember it correctly,' I replied. She read my writing and proudly announced, 'Yes, that’s right, you have it right.' The killing of a culture was still going on."