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Chapter 4
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Beekeeper of Aleppo, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Home, Displacement, and the Refugee Experience
Grief, Memory, and Coping Mechanisms
Hope vs. Delusion
The Trauma of War
Dehumanization vs. Connection
Summary
Analysis
In the present, Afra wakes and tells Nuri she smells flowers. Nuri sees that the bowl of keys is now filled with blossoms. Believing this to be a gift like the ones Nuri used to bring her, Afra smiles for the first time in a long time. This fills Nuri with disgust and horror for reasons he struggles to explain. Despite his desire to connect with Afra and help her, he is troubled by the effect this small accidental gift has on her, believing he is no longer deserving of her love.
The keys’ transformation into flower blossoms further confuses Nuri’s nighttime visions of Mohammed. Already surreal, they seem closest to dreams, suggesting that Nuri must have been sleepwalking to gather the tree’s blossoms. Nuri’s extreme reaction to Afra’s joy at having received a gift from him is unexpected and insinuates that he feels he has somehow wronged or betrayed her to the extent that she should no longer care for him.
Themes
Nuri and Afra have another meeting with Lucy Fisher. She gives them some papers to prove they are claiming asylum. Nuri appreciates her efficiency and wonders how many people have depended on her in the same way he is. Lucy Fisher tells Nuri to take the papers to a doctor in order to set up an appointment for Afra. She urges them to start preparing for their interview with immigration, ominously suggesting “they’ll pounce on anything […] especially if your story’s a mess.” Nuri worries.
Nuri perceives Lucy Fisher as someone who is genuinely willing to help him and Afra. Her busy efficiency suggests a large caseload, which explains her focus on practical logistics as opposed to empathetic connection. Lucy Fisher’s warnings about the immigration officers imply that their goal is to turn people away rather than grant them asylum, making the process feel like an exercise in dehumanization.
Themes
Diomande is next in line to meet with Lucy Fisher and immediately starts rambling about his journey to the UK. While Afra returns to the room, Nuri looks for something to do in the living room. A politician on TV talks about the dangers of accepting refugees, and Nuri turns the TV off. He thinks of writing to Mustafa about how unwell he feels, how bereft of dreams he is. Instead, he helps the landlady dust the rooms, noting several personal photos in the Moroccan man’s room. Feeling heavy, Nuri walks to a convenience store and buys some colored pencils and paper for Afra.
The politician on TV reiterates what Lucy Fisher suggested in the previous scene: that the British attitude toward refugees is overall unwelcoming. Being forced to leave his home only to be unaccepted in the place he seeks refuge is damaging to Nuri’s health, as indicated by his imagined letter to Mustafa. Rather than open himself up to those painful feelings, he opts instead to help the landlady, connecting with the other refugees secondhand through their belongings. Despite his earlier reaction to Afra’s gratitude, he buys her another gift, perhaps thinking that this one will at least be intentionally given.
Themes
Later in the day, the Moroccan man returns and calls to Nuri. He has purchased several plants for the flightless bee that Nuri has been caring for. The men set them up in the garden. Nuri is so moved, he cannot speak for a while, and the Moroccan man seems disappointed. This makes Nuri think of his father’s face when he told him he did not want to take over the family textile business, preferring instead to work in nature. Nuri assures the Moroccan man that he likes the gift, thanks him, and moves the bee into her new home.
The Moroccan man’s thoughtfulness adds depth to his character, since, until this point, Nuri views him mostly as an annoyance. Nuri’s less than enthusiastic reaction to this kindness demonstrates the difficulty of connecting with another person when one has become so used to being dehumanized, as illustrated in the previous scenes. The brief flashback to Nuri’s father associates two experiences in which Nuri lacked the proper gratitude, indicating that genuine connection was something he struggled with even before the war.
Themes
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Nuri asks the Moroccan man why and how he came to the UK, but the man deflects the question. Nuri persists, and Hazim tells him a truncated story about leaving with his children in order to find a better life. They were separated, and the Moroccan man is too overcome to tell any more details. When the other residents are in bed, Nuri goes out to the garden again to watch the bee and look for Mohammed. Alone, he leans against the tree and listens to the sounds of the sea before flashing back once again.
Moved by the Moroccan man’s generosity, Nuri attempts to connect with him on a deeper level but is rebuffed. Hazim’s reluctance to discuss his own history closely mirrors Nuri’s own selective memories, which still avoid Sami. Like Nuri, Hazim’s thoughts of his children overwhelm him with emotion, possibly implying that some losses are too great to share with another person. Nuri’s search for Mohammed in the garden could indicate an unfulfilled desire for more connection, but the boy’s failure to appear only deepens the mystery surrounding him.
Themes
In the flashback, Nuri, Afra, and Mohammed are waiting on the shore to cross the sea to Greece. Another boat that left the night before capsized, leaving only four survivors. Mohammed frets and argues with Nuri about the chances of their survival. Nuri tries to lighten the mood by making the boy laugh. Afra listens but does not join in with the conversation. Another woman tells Nuri, without prompting, that she lost her son too and knows what it is like. Her remark chills Nuri’s heart.
Despite Afra’s significant fear of the water, most of Nuri’s attention is focused on Mohammed before they make the perilous journey across the sea. It seems clear that Nuri has missed having a son to play with and comfort in times of need, but Afra is left out in the cold, isolating her further. Indeed, she ignores Mohammed’s existence, perhaps seeing Nuri’s relationship with the boy as an affront to Sami’s memory. The remark made by the woman who lost her son is jarring—especially since it seems like any outsider would assume Mohammed is Nuri’s son—and adds to Mohammed’s oddness.
Themes
The dinghy’s captain and the smuggler lead everyone onto the boat and instruct them to turn off all lights and make no noise until they reach international waters. Nuri sits with Mohammed and Afra, keeping one hand in the cold water. People whisper among themselves and comfort their children. Mohammed chatters for a while and asks Nuri why his wife does not talk before falling asleep. Nuri drifts off too, and sees a series of images from his past, ending with Sami’s eyes.
The attention to detail here lends the impending ocean passage a sense of seriousness and authenticity. The refugees’ long period of waiting is now broken by a shorter period of intense fear and possible death; this cycle will repeat itself throughout Nuri’s journey and highlights the exhausting nature of fleeing one’s country. Mohammed’s question about Afra directly addresses the way she ignores him in a way that feels pointed, but not passive aggressive—it is a detail the reader ought to remember. That Nuri dreams of Sami’s eyes, an image he has no doubt tried to repress, shows how Mohammed’s presence reminds him of Sami.
Themes
Nuri wakes to a panic; the waves have gotten bigger and there is too much water in the boat. Mohammed is helping scoop water out with his hands, and several men jump out to lighten the load. In a moment of darkness, Mohammed disappears. Nuri jumps into the water to search for him as Afra calls out to him from the dinghy. He sees someone lifting Mohammed back into the boat but starts to lose hope, since the craft is still in a dire state. He sees Afra’s face and hears Mohammed calling him, saying there is another boat coming to the rescue. In the distance, a light moves toward them.
This scene portrays the very real dangers many refugees face after fleeing their home countries. The moment in which Mohammed disappears feels like an expected ending, doubling down the trauma Nuri experiences from losing a son. His reappearance, then, is somewhat jarring, as if he has been pulled back from a predicted fate.
Themes
