Survival vs. Living in As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow
Thematic Overview: Survival vs. Living
In As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow, Zoulfa Katouh draws a sharp distinction between survival—the biological drive to stay alive—and living, which requires embracing hope, love, and a future worth fighting for. The novel’s protagonist, Salama Kassab, begins the story trapped in a survival mindset, driven by guilt and the terrifying hallucination Khawf. By the epilogue, she has learned to choose living, even as trauma remains part of her. This thematic arc is woven through the plot, character relationships, and recurring symbols like the lemon tree and the color blue.
Survival in the Siege of Homs
Early in the novel, Salama’s existence is reduced to bare survival. She buys shriveled lemons and dry bread, hoards a hidden supply of Panadol for her pregnant sister-in-law Layla, and works endless shifts at the hospital where she performs amputations without anesthesia. Khawf, the personification of her fear, constantly reminds her that her only goal is to keep Layla and herself alive long enough to escape. When Layla argues that “life is more than just survival” (Chapter 1), Salama resists, believing that her duty as the last pharmacist in three neighborhoods outweighs any personal dreams. Her internal conflict is sharp: she feels she does not deserve to dream of a future because she carries the blood of martyrs under her skin.
Khawf’s voice reinforces survival as the sole priority. He tells Salama that in Germany she will not find happiness, only safety—and that she must accept survival as her only possible outcome. This bleak worldview opposes Layla’s insistence that the revolution itself is about reclaiming their lives, not merely escaping death. The tension between these two voices defines Salama’s early struggle.
The Cost of Survival: Moral Compromises and Guilt
Survival in wartime comes at a moral cost. One of the most striking moments occurs when Salama blackmails a smuggler named Am, using the life of a dying child, Samar, as leverage to secure boat passage for herself and Layla. She gives her own blood to keep Samar alive while simultaneously threatening to withhold antibiotics unless Am agrees to take them. The scene shows how survival logic can twist moral boundaries. Afterward, Salama sobs alone, realizing that even if she reaches Europe, she “won’t have survived” in any meaningful sense (Chapter 13). The guilt of that decision follows her, and Khawf tries to justify it by saying she did what she had to do.
This complexity reveals that mere survival does not guarantee a life worth living. Salama’s conscience is scarred by the choices she made under duress. The novel refuses to offer easy absolution, instead emphasizing that living authentically requires confronting those scars and choosing to move forward despite them.
Choosing to Live: The Color Blue and the Leap of Faith
A turning point occurs when Salama confides in Kenan about her childhood dream of seeing the color blue—a shade Layla once painted that Salama wanted to find in every country. The war has muted all colors, and she believes she no longer deserves to see them. Kenan gently insists that even if the world is difficult, color will return, and she can learn to see it again. This conversation reframes living not as the absence of pain, but as the willingness to risk hope.
That risk becomes literal during the boat crossing. When the overloaded fishing boat begins to sink, Khawf urges Salama to stay onboard and wait for safety. Instead, she chooses to jump into the freezing water with Kenan and his siblings, saying, “That’s no way to survive—no way to live” (Chapter 39). In that moment, she rejects the passive approach to survival and actively fights for life. The leap is both physical and symbolic: she chooses connection, trust, and the possibility of a future over the safe but stagnant option Khawf represents.
Living Beyond Survival: The Epilogue in Toronto
The epilogue shows Salama and Kenan four months after reaching Canada. They are married, about to start university, and tend a newly planted lemon tree on their balcony. The seedling breaking through the soil echoes the epigraph’s promise that “lemons will never die out.” Yet the novel does not erase trauma: both still suffer nightmares, Salama searches daily for news of her missing brother Hamza, and they rely on therapy. Living does not mean forgetting or being happy all the time; it means building a life that includes joy, activism, and care for each other. When they dance in their pajamas, Kenan says, “Reminding the other we’re still here.” That is the essence of living—choosing to be present and to create meaning even when survival has been secured.
Symbol Connections
- Lemon Tree – Represents hope, continuity, and the possibility of new life. The seedling in the epilogue proves that even after devastation, growth is possible.
- Khawf – The embodiment of fear and the survival instinct. He tries to keep Salama safe by discouraging risk, but his way leads to emotional death.
- The Color Blue – Symbolizes dreams, beauty, and the future Salama once believed she could have. Reclaiming the ability to see blue means reclaiming the will to live fully.
- The Hijab – An expression of identity and faith. Salama’s hijab is part of her; wearing it even during the sea crossing shows that living authentically means staying true to oneself.
Complexity and Contradiction
The novel acknowledges that survival and living are not always in opposition. Salama’s initial survival actions—working at the hospital, hoarding medicine—are necessary for her to stay alive long enough to reach a place where living is possible. Yet the novel also critiques a mindset that reduces life to mere endurance. Layla’s statement that the revolution is about “getting our lives back” implies that survival without the fight for dignity and freedom is hollow. The complexity lies in the gray area: there is no pure, guilt-free path. Salama must live with the moral compromises she made while still choosing to move forward. The final acceptance is that living includes pain, memory, and joy side by side.
Five Study Questions and Answers
1. How does Layla’s character challenge Salama’s survival-only mindset?
Layla repeatedly tells Salama that life is more than survival and that the revolution is about reclaiming their lives. She embodies the belief that staying in Homs to fight is worth the risk, which forces Salama to confront her own tendency to avoid fully living.
2. What role does Khawf play in the survival-vs-living theme?
Khawf personifies Salama’s fear and her instinct to prioritize physical safety at all costs. He discourages her from taking emotional risks, but his advice would lead to a life without hope, connection, or purpose.
3. Why does Salama decide to jump from the sinking boat instead of staying on it?
She realizes that passively waiting to be rescued is not true living. Jumping means she actively fights for survival alongside Kenan and his siblings, choosing solidarity and courage over fear-driven inaction.
4. How does the epilogue show that living continues despite trauma?
In Toronto, Salama and Kenan still suffer nightmares and survivor’s guilt, but they attend therapy, study, dance, and tend a lemon tree. They do not deny their pain; they integrate it into a life that also contains joy and purpose.
5. What does the lemon tree symbolize in relation to the theme?
The lemon tree represents hope, continuity, and the possibility of new growth after destruction. In the epilogue, the seedling breaking through soil echoes the epigraph’s promise that life endures, reinforcing that living is an ongoing act of cultivation.