As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow: Questions & Answers

1. Why does Salama buy shriveled lemons in Chapter 2?

Salama buys three shriveled lemons because they are all the nearly empty supermarket has left. This act establishes the siege’s scarcity and introduces the lemon as a symbol of resilience – even withered fruit can carry hope. The purchase also triggers memories of her mother’s lemonade, linking the fruit to lost family warmth and the determination to survive.

The opening narrative chapter (Chapter 2 in the outline) shows Salama picking up the lemons and bread while her mind drifts to pre-war memories. Nizar Qabbani’s epigraph (“Every lemon will bring forth a child…”) immediately ties the fruit to generational endurance. By choosing the lemons despite their condition, Salama clings to the possibility of life, foreshadowing her eventual flight and the lemon tree that grows in the epilogue. The lemon tree symbol recurs throughout the novel as a testament to hope against devastation.

2. What is the significance of Khawf’s deal in Chapter 22?

Khawf offers to show Salama the worst-case outcome of attending the protest – her arrest, Kenan tortured – if she will stop arguing with him. She accepts, demonstrating her willingness to face any truth to act on her convictions. The deal marks a turning point where Salama risks psychological pain for the chance to reclaim agency.

In Chapter 22, Salama bargains with her fear personification, knowing full well the images may destroy her. Khawf warns that “they are very real possibilities,” and Salama still says “Do it.” This scene deepens her trauma and guilt while showing her growing courage. The hallucination’s power begins to wane as Salama starts to confront rather than avoid her worst fears.

3. How does Layla’s revelation in Chapter 29 change the story?

Layla has been dead for months; her presence was a hallucination born of Salama’s PTSD. This twist shatters the false hope Salama built around caring for her sister-in-law and forces her to process real grief. It recontextualizes earlier scenes of Layla’s comfort as Salama’s own desperate coping mechanism.

Chapter 29 reveals that a sniper killed Layla, and Salama repressed the memory. Kenan gently tells her no one is there when she tries to hide Layla’s uncovered hair. The character of Layla had been the emotional anchor urging Salama to live, so losing that anchor plunges Salama into raw acceptance. This revelation is a hinge point after which Salama can begin to heal, supported by Kenan’s steady presence.

4. Why does Salama threaten to let Samar die in Chapter 12?

Salama threatens to let Am’s daughter Samar die unless he lowers the boat fare, exploiting her medical power to secure escape money. This desperate gamble reveals how war corrupts even the most ethical instincts – she saves Samar’s life but forever carries the shame of using a child’s life as leverage.

Chapter 12 shows Salama bargaining with the wounded girl’s father: she stitches Samar and demands payment, then breaks down with guilt. The theme of sacrifice and duty is pushed to its limit. Salama’s internal conflict between survival and humanity is the core tension; this act leaves a permanent scar on her conscience, and she later confesses it to Kenan, who forgives her.

5. What role does the lemon tree epigraph play in the narrative?

The epigraph by Nizar Qabbani – “Every lemon will bring forth a child and the lemons will never die out” – establishes the novel’s central symbol of continuity, resilience, and hope. It primes readers to see lemons as a life force that endures across generations, mirroring the human spirit under siege.

This single line appears first in Chapter 1 and reappears on a protest sign in Chapter 24 and in the epilogue’s description of Salama’s balcony tree. It roots the story in Syrian cultural heritage and frames every loss as part of an ongoing cycle. The hope and resilience theme is woven into the lemon motif, reminding readers that even destruction cannot erase the possibility of new growth.

6. How does Kenan’s decision to stay in Syria evolve by Chapter 20?

Kenan initially refuses to leave because he believes documenting the revolution is his duty. After seeing his siblings endangered, he finally accepts Salama’s offer of boat passage, acknowledging that his true battle now is protecting his family. His shift from activist to guardian mirrors the novel’s conflict between public resistance and private survival.

In Chapter 20, after treating Lama’s dehydration and discussing refugee dangers, Kenan admits he feels torn. Salama convinces him that storytelling can keep Syria alive while his siblings’ futures demand action. He agrees to leave, and the moment is sealed when he reveals he wears his father’s lemon-scented cologne. This choice connects to the resistance and documentation theme – he continues his activism from abroad.

7. What is the meaning of the “color blue” dream in Chapter 16?

Salama’s childhood dream to see the color blue from Layla’s painting represents her pre-war longing for the world beyond Homs – freedom, adventure, beauty. By Chapter 16, that blue has become tainted by frostbite and hypothermia, symbolizing how war has poisoned even her most cherished aspirations.

In Chapter 16, Salama describes the painting’s unique shade and how she wanted to see real oceans. Kenan assures her that colors can return, but she questions whether survivors deserve them. The survival vs. living theme is crystallized here: survival numbs perception, but living means fighting to see color again. The blue later appears in the epilogue’s wall shade, showing partial recovery.

8. Why does Salama attend the protest despite knowing the danger?

Salama attends the protest because she needs to reclaim her agency after the chemical attack. Exhausted and furious, she decides that risking death for freedom is more meaningful than passively waiting to die. The protest experience reignites her hope and reminds her what she is fighting for.

Chapter 21 shows Salama declaring her intention after the hospital is overwhelmed by sarin victims. She makes a deal with Khawf to see the worst outcome yet still goes in Chapter 24. There, she sings revolutionary songs, sees the lemon poem sign, and accepts her scarred hands as marks of strength. This courage directly leads to Kenan’s proposal and their decision to marry, linking protest to personal commitment.

9. How does the hallucination of Layla serve the plot?

The hallucination of Layla allows Salama to keep her promise to Hamza without confronting the unbearable truth of Layla’s death. It prolongs her motivation to escape, gives her a voice of hope to argue against Khawf, and ultimately shatters when she must accept reality. This coping mechanism drives half the novel’s emotional arc.

From Chapter 2 onward, Layla appears as a constant presence urging Salama to live and name her baby Salama. Only in Chapter 29 does Kenan reveal she is not real. The character of Khawf gains deeper meaning as the force that kept her from processing this. Layla’s final message – that leaving Syria is the only way – still holds, but now Salama must carry it without the delusion of companionship.

10. What does the ring from Kenan’s mother signify?

Kenan’s mother’s ring, which he gives Salama when he proposes, symbolizes continuity, sacrifice, and the union of two families under wartime duress. It replaces the gold Salama sold for the boat, turning a material loss into a symbol of love that defies the war’s theft.

In Chapter 26, Kenan bestows the ring that his mother had presumably kept for his future bride. Salama wears it on her necklace because her scarred hands cannot fit it. The ring connects to the sacrifice and duty theme – both characters give up the normal engagements they would have had, yet choose each other anyway. In the epilogue, Kenan kisses the ring on her finger, showing it endured.

11. Why does Salama chant the names of flowers?

Salama chants flower names – daisies, feverfew, lilacs – as a grounding technique to stave off panic attacks and Khawf’s taunts. The floral mantras anchor her in the present, reminding her of beauty and memory when trauma overwhelms. This coping mechanism recurs throughout the book as a way to resist her fear personification.

First seen in Chapter 2 when she murmurs “Daisies. Daisies. Daisies.” while walking home, the practice continues in later crisis moments. The flowers contrast with the gray ruins of Homs, linking to the hope and resilience theme. By Chapter 31, Salama stops needing them as Khawf fades, showing her growing strength.

12. How does the chemical attack change Salama’s resolve in Chapter 21?

The sarin gas attack overwhelms the hospital and kills people she cannot save, including children. Salama’s shock and fury push her from passive endurance to active protest – she announces she will attend the revolution’s anniversary demonstration. The attack shatters her remaining hope that staying can protect anyone.

In Chapter 21, Dr. Ziad warns of imminent chemical weapons, and victims flood in convulsing. Salama administers atropine but knows it is not enough. She later tells Layla she must protest, saying “I need to do something.” This shift from medical duty to civic resistance echoes the resistance and documentation theme and leads directly to the protest sequences.

13. What is the significance of the lemon scent on Kenan?

Kenan smells like lemons because he wears his father’s cologne, a detail revealed in Chapter 20. The scent ties him to the novel’s central lemon symbol, suggesting that he embodies the resilience and heritage Salama must embrace to survive. It also creates a sensory link between love, memory, and hope.

When Salama asks about the scent, Kenan replies, “It’s Baba’s cologne.” His father, like Salama’s family, is lost to the war, yet Kenan carries him forward. The lemon motif recurs in the epilogue where Salama grows a lemon tree, and Kenan’s scent becomes a daily reminder of the homeland they left. It reinforces the lemon tree symbol as something internalized.

14. How does Khawf’s disappearance in Chapter 31 connect to Salama’s escape?

Khawf tells Salama that he is born from the amplified fear in Syria and will not follow her abroad. When she blinks, he vanishes, symbolizing that leaving the war zone means shedding the trauma that has tormented her. His disappearance is necessary for her psychological survival, though the epilogue shows she still carries nightmares.

In Chapter 31, Khawf explains, “Fear and dread run high in Syria. They’re enhanced in you… Why would I follow you there?” He vanishes after she blinks. This confirms that the escape plan is not just physical but mental. The character of Khawf represents the war’s internal voice; his departure is a precondition for Salama to start healing in Canada.

15. Why does the epilogue focus on the lemon tree seedling?

The lemon tree seedling pushing through soil in the epilogue symbolizes that hope, like the tree, survives displacement and trauma. It mirrors the epigraph’s promise that lemons will never die out, proving that Salama and Kenan carry Syria within them. The tree becomes a tangible commitment to nurture life after near-total loss.

In the epilogue, Salama tends a balcony garden and a ceramic pot where a seedling emerges. She says, “Lemons take time, Kenan… They need patience, just like change does.” The tree connects to the hope and resilience theme and to Layla’s memory. Though the couple still suffers PTSD and separation from siblings, the lemon tree affirms that continuity and growth remain possible.