Uncle Khosrove

Uncle Khosrove is "an enormous man with a powerful head of black hair and the largest moustache in the San Joaquin Valley." He is famously furious, irritable and impatient, silencing anyone who speaks by roaring his catchphrase, "It is no harm; pay no attention to it" — which he says even when told his own house is on fire, and again when John Byro grieves over his stolen horse. He provides much of the story's humour. Yet, as Aram's mother explains, he "has a gentle heart"; his impatience springs from homesickness for the lost homeland — "Haven't we all lost the homel …