Characters As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow Zoulfa Katouh

Kenan: The Revolutionary Documentarian in As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow

Overview

Kenan is a young Syrian revolutionary who uses his camera to document the war in Homs, driven by a deep love for his country and a need to preserve its truth. He is also Salama’s arranged‑marriage suitor, a role that blossoms into a profound romantic partnership. As a character, Kenan embodies resistance through storytelling and the painful choice between personal safety and civic duty. His arc moves from unwavering commitment to staying in Syria to a reluctant but necessary decision to flee with his siblings, Yusuf and Lama. Throughout the novel, Kenan serves as a foil to Salama’s initial reluctance to leave, while also representing hope, resilience, and the power of art in the face of trauma.

Plot Role

Kenan first appears when Salama performs emergency surgery on his sister Lama, a nine‑year‑old with a retained shrapnel piece. He is immediately portrayed as a calm, caring older brother who insists Salama stay in his home when gunfire erupts. Over the next chapters, Kenan’s role expands: he is the boy Salama was supposed to meet for a coffee a year earlier — a traditional arranged marriage that war interrupted. He becomes Salama’s confidant, the person who helps her confront her PTSD, and eventually her husband. His documentation work drives a key thematic strand: the importance of bearing witness. Kenan’s determination to film the revolution and share it with the world makes him a modern‑day chronicler of atrocity, but it also places him in constant danger. His gradual shift from staying to leaving mirrors Salama’s own journey from survival mode to a decision to truly live.

Motivations and Traits Shown Through Actions

Kenan’s core motivation is loyalty — to his country, his family, and his principles. He refuses to leave Syria because he believes his duty is to record the revolution. “This land is me and I am her,” he tells Salama, tying his identity to the soil. His commitment is reinforced by his mother’s survival of the 1982 Hama massacre, which ignites his activism. He documents protests, uploads English‑subtitled videos, and explains the dictatorship’s crimes to a global audience.

His traits emerge through actions: he is gentle yet stubborn, artistic yet pragmatic. When Salama breaks down after a sniper attack, he shares a memory of Studio Ghibli’s Castle in the Sky to comfort her, revealing his creative spirit. He accepts Salama’s confession about Khawf without judgment, showing deep empathy. He forgives her when she admits she bargained over a child’s life to fund their escape, recognizing that war forces impossible choices. His devotion to his siblings is constant — he carries Lama to the hospital, packs their belongings, and later separates from them when they are sponsored to Germany while he and Salama move to Canada. The emotional cost of that separation is shown through his daily phone calls and his unchanged lock screen of Yusuf and Lama.

Chronological Arc

  • Introduction: Kenan appears in Chapter 6 as the brother of a wounded girl, immediately taking charge of her care and insisting Salama stay safe.
  • Revelation of connection: In Chapter 7, Salama learns he was her arranged‑marriage suitor. He admits he was curious about her but war prevented their meeting.
  • Philosophical divergence: In Chapter 9, Kenan explains his refusal to leave, citing his mother’s trauma and his duty to document. Salama decides she must flee with Layla.
  • Deepening bond: In Chapter 13, Kenan uses art to calm Salama’s panic. They walk home together, and she urges him to consider leaving. In Chapter 17, he shows her his YouTube channel and reveals his plan to send his siblings but stay behind.
  • Turning point: In Chapter 20, after Yusuf brings in a dehydrated Lama, Kenan admits he is torn. Salama convinces him that keeping Syria’s memory alive can be done from abroad and that his siblings’ futures are his true battle. He agrees to leave.
  • Romance and marriage: At the revolution anniversary protest (Chapter 24), Kenan admits his feelings. In Chapter 26, he proposes with his mother’s ring. They marry in the hospital with Dr. Ziad officiating (Chapter 28).
  • Exposure of trauma: In Chapter 30, Kenan is the one who reveals to Salama that Layla has been dead for months. He supports her through her grief, never shaming her delusion.
  • Escape and aftermath: In Chapter 37–39, Kenan, Salama, and his siblings board the overcrowded boat, survive a sinking, and are rescued. In the Epilogue, they live in Toronto. Kenan studies animation, continues his activism, and maintains contact with his siblings in Germany.

Relationships

Kenan and Salama

Their relationship is built on parallel traumas and shared hope. They meet under chaotic circumstances, discover their missed arranged marriage, and gradually fall in love. Kenan is both a grounding presence — he helps Salama see color again — and a mirror of her own stubbornness. After Layla’s death is revealed, he becomes her emotional anchor. They marry in a makeshift ceremony, and their bond is tested by the boat journey and life in Canada. The novel ends with them dancing in their small apartment, both still haunted by nightmares but committed to each other and to healing.

Kenan and his siblings (Yusuf and Lama)

Kenan is a father figure to his younger siblings. He carries the weight of their safety, from getting them out of a dangerous neighborhood to arranging for their sponsorship by an uncle in Germany. His decision to leave Syria is ultimately driven by his love for them — he cannot bear to see Lama dehydrated again. The separation in the Epilogue is painful; he calls them daily and plans trips to Germany. Yusuf’s mutism (he stops speaking after trauma) mirrors Kenan’s own silent grief, and Kenan works to find him help.

Kenan and Layla

Although Layla is dead for most of Salama’s arc, Kenan only interacts with her memory. He respects Salama’s attachment to Layla and is the one to compassionately reveal the truth. He sees Layla as part of the life Salama needs to carry forward.

Key Decisions and Consequences

  1. Staying in Syria to document the revolution – This decision defines Kenan for most of the novel. The consequence is that he nearly loses his siblings; Yusuf stops speaking and Lama becomes sick. It also strains his relationship with Salama, who wants him to flee.
  2. Agreeing to leave with his siblings – Made in Chapter 20 after witnessing Lama’s fragility. The consequence is that he must reconcile his love for Syria with the need to protect his family. It also allows him to survive and continue his activism from abroad.
  3. Proposing to Salama – A bold act of hope in the middle of war. The consequence is a new source of strength for both characters, binding them together through the escape and resettlement.
  4. Choosing to send Yusuf and Lama to Germany with an uncle – A painful practical decision that keeps them safe but separates the family. In the Epilogue, this separation weighs on Kenan, but it also gives the children stability.
  5. Continuing activism from Canada – He and Salama make videos and write articles. The consequence is that their stories reach a global audience, fulfilling Kenan’s original mission, but it also means reliving trauma.

Theme/Symbol Connections

Kenan is deeply tied to the theme of resistance through documentation. His camera is a weapon against erasure. He is also linked to the symbol of lemons, which represent continuity and hope. Salama notices he smells like lemons; this turns out to be his father’s cologne — a personal legacy. In the Epilogue, the lemon tree they plant in Toronto echoes the novel’s epigraph: “Every lemon will bring forth a child, and the lemons will never die out.” Kenan’s survival and his art ensure that Syria’s story lives on.

He also embodies the theme of sacrifice and duty. His initial refusal to leave is framed as a duty to his homeland, while his eventual departure is a sacrifice of that duty for his siblings. This tension between collective and personal responsibility runs through his entire arc.

5 Book‑Specific Questions with Direct Answers

1. Why does Kenan initially refuse to leave Syria?

Kenan believes his duty is to document the revolution so the world knows the truth. He says Syria is his life and he cannot abandon her. His mother survived the Hama massacre, and her trauma fuels his commitment.

2. What changes Kenan’s mind about fleeing?

Witnessing his sister Lama’s dehydration and his brother Yusuf’s mutism forces him to see that staying endangers his family. Salama convinces him that keeping Syria’s memory alive through storytelling does not require him to die there.

3. How does Kenan support Salama after she learns of Layla’s death?

Kenan gently breaks the news to Salama and does not judge her for the hallucination. He holds her, explains to the children, and becomes her steady support as she processes grief. He later reassures her that war forces impossible choices.

4. What does the lemon scent on Kenan represent?

The lemon scent is his father’s cologne, a personal link to family and memory. It also connects him to the novel’s central symbol — the lemon tree — representing resilience, hope, and the enduring nature of the Syrian people.

5. What happens to Kenan and his siblings after the novel ends?

Kenan and Salama live in Toronto, where he studies animation and continues activism through videos. His siblings Yusuf and Lama live with an uncle in Germany. Kenan calls them daily and plans visits, but the separation pains him. He and Salama plant a lemon tree on their balcony as a symbol of hope.

Conclusion

Kenan is more than a love interest; he is the heart of the novel’s argument that art and memory are forms of resistance. His journey from stubborn documentarian to reluctant refugee to hopeful survivor mirrors the broader Syrian experience. Through his camera, his love for Salama, and his devotion to his siblings, he shows that even in the darkest circumstances, the decision to keep living — and to keep telling stories — is an act of defiance.