51 pages • 1 hour read
The Beekeeper of Aleppo
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Themes
The Tragedy of War
The civil war in Syria is the setting and reason for the terrible events that drive Nuri and Afra to flee their homeland. The transformation of their lives from a peaceful family existence to a tragic nightmare occurs as the bombs and soldiers get closer and closer to their home on the outskirts of Aleppo. Nuri makes little direct reference to the religious and political clashes or battles in the war, only describing Aleppo as divided into the two sides by the river. Bashar al-Assad and Daesh are mentioned briefly. The references to war in the book are more universal, and the protagonists’ experiences serve to represent those of many victims of war, internationally and throughout history.
Nuri’s story for Mohammed about the blind kings is clearly an allegory of what happens to a country when leaders are ignorant and countries are poorly managed: “Every king who ever ruled this place was blind, in one way or another, so that they left it full of riches and devoid of life” (141). The City of Brass which Nuri describes, with its mosques and domes and bazaars, sounds like his description of Aleppo, and it is a city empty of people and of life. This will be the fate of Aleppo if the war continues and everyone leaves, as Nuri and his family have done. Another link to war through a story is when Nuri recalls the night-time in the stories of the Arabian nights, which his mother used to tell him. As she read, “she would look out of the window at a country that seethes with power and corruption and oppression, and I would see her frustration, her anger and sometimes her fear” (239). The unrest and political strife that drives Syria to war is not new.
While most comments on war in the book can be applied universally, one aspect of the Syrian war is particularly pertinent to Nuri’s experience. His many references to the drying up of the greenery and his flowers in the heat of the summer over recent years illustrate the changing climate of Syria, with long droughts which became a contributing factor in the unrest that built up prior to the war. The previously fertile and productive country became parched and the people thirsty, with farmers struggling to produce food. While this is not a situation unique to Syria, it has a personal resonance for Nuri as his livelihood relies on the bees being able to find greenery, as well as his love of all things natural.
The Impacts of Trauma and Memory
Emotional and psychological trauma and their effects is a major theme of The Beekeeper of Aleppo. The novel itself is structured as a constant back-and-forth from the present to memories, and this narrative device allows the reader to appreciate the grip that the past has on the protagonists. Their story is revealed through parallel narratives, as their journeys in the past and present proceed.
Nuri, Afra and Mustafa all undergo the worst trauma imaginable for parents: that of losing a child in a horrific way. Their reactions are different: Afra becomes blind, and her emotions shut down. Nuri is haunted by the ghost of his son, experiencing hallucinations and nightmares from PTSD. Both of them feel trapped by their pain and cannot reach, open up to, or console each other. Memories both assuage and torment them. They cannot learn to live again until they can escape from their own minds. In Afra’s case, this happens when she talks about her experience to the doctor. In Nuri’s case, it is when he is diagnosed with PTSD, but his near drowning in the sea in England is also a catalyst for the change in him.
Mustafa also suffers the pain of losing a child but manages his emotions more effectively, even though he still expresses his pain in his emails to Nuri: “The thoughts I have poison me and I am alone with them. I know that every other person here is trapped in their own hell” (96). He expresses his regret: “So many times I wish I had not stayed behind, that I had left Aleppo with my wife and daughter because then my son would still be with us. This thought brings me close to death” (169). Nevertheless, Mustafa knows how to balance his grief with acceptance: “We cannot go back, cannot change the decisions we made in the past. I did not kill my son. I try to remember these things because if I don’t, I will be lost in the darkness” (169).
Towards the novel’s end, Nuri also resorts to happy memories in an attempt to find comfort: “I ran through the memory three times in my mind, repeating it as if I was rewinding and replaying a videotape, until I slipped off to sleep” (203). Both Nuri and Afra realize that while they cannot bring Sami back, they can take comfort in the love they had for him and rediscover their love for one another. By the novel’s close, the past catches up with the present and there are no more flashbacks as the couple manage to overcome their trauma to some extent. They are finally able to look forward, rather than only backwards.
Nature as Consolation
The bees are a central symbol in the novel but the presence and importance of nature in general is one of the main themes. Nuri is always aware of the colors and beauty of nature. He chooses to work outside in beekeeping rather than shut away in his father’s fabric shop, where the colors can only imitate the beautiful tones of nature. Throughout the book, he describes the sounds and smells, as well as the sights, that nature consoles him with. Even in war-torn Aleppo, after thinking about burnt villages and women fearing rape, he can appreciate a rose: “But there, beside me, was a damask rose bush in full bloom. When I closed my eyes and breathed in the smell, I could pretend I hadn’t seen the things I’d seen” (45). On the perilous trip to the Syrian border with Turkey, while a dead man lies beside them, Nuri is aware of a hoopoe bird, “its inky eyes shimmering” (67). At the end of the book, Afra sees three hoopoe birds on a tree and identifies herself with them: “Here they are, migrants from the east, in this small town by the sea” (359)—just like Nuri, Afra and Mustafa. The landlady’s garden in England is a place of solace for Nuri and is where he finds connection with Mohammed/Sami. The flowers he picks there and takes to Afra, although Nuri believes they are keys, bring her a small moment of happiness in her otherwise dreadful existence.
The one aspect of the natural environment which has a dual role in the book is water. Nuri constantly mentions different types of water, whether the river in Aleppo—a scene of horror as dead young Syrians are dragged from it—or the frequent rain in England, which contrasts with the pervasive droughts back in Syria. The sea has a central role as both the means of passage to a new continent and life, and a source of fear and foreboding as the refugees know that their crossings may well end in tragedy. Nuri imagines that Mohammed nearly drowns and tries to save him. Later Nuri chases Mohammed into the sea in England, nearly drowning himself but at the same time being cleansed of his memory and, in a way, baptized into a new beginning.
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