Spatial Politics and the Construction of Home in As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow

Abstract

In the time of conflicts the place we call home, as in where we live, becomes so much more than just that. It is the site of trauma, resilience and hope. The novel As Long As the Lemon Trees Grow by Zoulfa Katouh (2022) is a story of a girl Salama Kassab who studies to become a pharmacist but the fate has some other plans for her. The novel explains how the war in Syria changes her. How her trauma and fear come forward in some twisted ways that she cannot even realize it at first. How Khawf lingers around her helped her making sure her survival. How she calls herself by murmuring flowers and there usage under her breath. In this article we explore the construction of home from physical destructions and the emotional memory. Using ideas from geocriticism and memory studies, this paper argues that even though the city of Homs is in ruins but the personal recollection still helps to rebuild a sense of home. Edward Soja’s third space theory emerges portraying Syria as a place of in between identity, where staying and leaving are both painful choices, and where survival means existing between past and present. The lemon trees in this novel offers hope amid chaos. No matter how many voices they kill or suppress there will always be more to fight them. These bombs are not lower our spirits. The novel shows that home is not just a building but it is a dynamic and changing space shaped by history, politics and emotions.