The Island of Missing Trees Part 6, Chapter 2: Silences, London, early 2000s Summary & Analysis

Nine months after Ada’s birth, Defne goes back to working with the CMP. She travels to different homes in the London area, interviewing people who survived the civil war in Cyprus. One day, the son of a 92-year-old survivor accuses Defne and one of her colleagues of stirring up the past when they should just let it be. Shaken, Defne and her colleague go to a bar afterward. It's the first drink Defne’s had since she became pregnant with Ada. When she gets home, Defne tells Kostas that she doesn’t want to burden Ada with details from the past. Kostas smells alcohol coming from Defne and tells himself that it’s nothing to worry about.

This passage directly links what Ada calls Defne’s alcoholism to the painful and tragic events of Cyprus’s past. Notably, Defne is rattled to the point that she turns to drinking after encountering someone who wants to forget about the past and ignore it, highlighting the novel’s argument that untold amounts of harm are done by trying to forget what has happened instead of trying to heal from it.

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The Island of Missing Trees: Part 6, Chapter 2: Silences, London, early 2000s Summary & Analysis