Black Dog of Fate: A Memoir

In the first chapter, Peter’s grandmother tells him the tale of the Black Dog of Fate (9-10). Nafina says, “the dog tells us to have hope. The dog tells us there is mystery” (11). Expound on Nafina’s statement and explain what the story means in your own words. Why did Peter Balakian name his memoir after this story?

Peter Balakian knows few facts about his important family history before adulthood. His memoir invites the reader to consider the implications of sharing stories of unimaginable horror and violence with ensuing generations. Based on Peter’s reflections in the last two sections of the book, what do you think he would suggest to families of survivors of widespread violence about the value of the past and the right way(s) to commemorate it as time goes along? What do you think are the best ways to inform the youth about violent histories?

The author notes the ongoing movement through the 20th and 21st centuries to deny that the Armenian Genocide ever took place. What are the key tenants of that movement (what do deniers suggest “the truth” is)? What impact do these invented storylines have on Armenian families across the globe? What impact do they have on a general public in a place like the United States that does not widely include the Armenian Genocide in public school curriculums? (Hint: revisit Chapter 27, “The Open Wound,” as you construct your answer.)

In the first chapter of the book, Peter says that baseball “was something more than a game” to his grandmother: “I realized she felt the game more deeply than anyone knew” (12). Baseball is important to Peter, too. In the last scene of the book, he watches a baseball game in the airport with the bones of Armenian Genocide victims in his pockets. What does baseball represent in Black Dog of Fate? Why was it so special to Nafina Aroosian and why is it important to Peter?

What specific strategies does Balakian use to tell the history of the Armenian Genocide and the Armenian diaspora at both the micro and macro levels in a single book? How effectively do you think he transmits both personal suffering and the massive scale of violence in the history he tells? 

So often surrounded by his grandmother, four aunts, and his mother, Peter occasionally complains about being heavily outnumbered by women who dote on him. He also says that because “Men were scarce in [his] family, and it made [his] father’s remoteness from [him] more complex” (95). How did the gendered dynamics of Peter’s family influence his upbringing? What gendered Armenian and American behaviors does he observe, and how does he respond to these observations? The author mostly addresses these issues in discussing his childhood and adolescence, but you might want to think about how the gendered dynamics of his childhood affected him later in life. 

Peter Balakian is famous for his world-renowned poetry. In this memoir, he talks about his steady embrace of poetry and literature as a young adult. What role did poetry and literature play in Peter’s journey into his family’s past? How did the intellectual community within his family’s wide network of contacts in and around New York City shape his maturing relationships with his parents and aunts?

Balakian draws comparisons between the Armenian Genocide and the Jewish Holocaust. What are the main similarities and the main differences that he outlines? How were the events of the Armenian Genocide related to ideology and practice in Nazi Germany? (Hint: revisit Chapter 18, “Before the Nazis,” as you construct your answer.)