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Part 3, Chapter 3: Hear Me, London, late 2010s
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Island of Missing Trees, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Generational Trauma
Nature and Interconnectedness
Love and Displacement
Solidarity, Tribalism, and Political Division
History and Silencing
Summary
Analysis
The fig tree remembers a gift Yusuf gave Yiorgos for one of his birthdays, a pocket watch with Y&Y engraved on the back and a verse from the poet Cavafy, Yiorgos’s favorite poet, engraved inside the cover. The day before, Yusuf had found a threatening homophobic note stuck to the door with chewing gum, and Yusuf thought about that note even while Yiorgos appreciated his gift. Yusuf didn’t tell Yiorgos about the note. As they stayed up through the night, Yiorgos and Yusuf talked about the possibility of one day leaving Nicosia.
This passage clarifies that Yiorgos and Yusuf are the two men at the bottom of the well that the fig tree discussed in the prologue to the novel, as Yusuf gives Yiorgos the pocket watch that is also in the well. In this chapter, even though Yiorgos appreciated the gift of the pocket watch, Yusuf could not fully enjoy the moment because the threat of homophobic violence hung over him.
Active
Themes
