The Round Trip
The novel is structured so that the bulk of the action takes place within the memories of Khaled as he leaves his home to drop a friend off at a train station and then takes a long walk back. The story that Khaled relates is one that essentially reveals him to be in a permanent state of statis compared to his more activist friends. The trip from home to the train station with his friend and then the walk back home alone symbolize Khaled’s entire adult life in which he willingly chosen to play it safe and remain in place while his friends have gone off on lived adventurous lives that have broadened their experiences and perspectives.
England and Libya
Khaled leaves Libya to go to school in Scotland and then work in London. He never returns and only connects with what is going on there from a distance. When he leaves the country was still under the oppressive rule of its dictator Muammar Qaddafi. While in England the revolutionary movement know as the Arab Spring takes place and Qaddafi is overthrown and forced to flee before being captured and killed. Much violence takes place in the country both during and after the dictator’s reign of power. Because he once took part in a demonstration in London against Qaddafi, Khaled can neither return to Libya nor live a life of authenticity because he must keep his participation in the demonstration a secret. Libya symbolizes hell in that Khaled would be punished if ever went back. But England does not symbolize heaven because he can only remain there by denying truth. Thus, England symbolizes purgatory in which Khaled must eternally wait for judgment.
The Cat in the Short Story
The short story by Hosam which is read on radio in Libya and heard by Khaled before he goes to the U.K. is the tale of a man being eaten by a cat until only his head remains. It is at this point that the man cries out, “no!” The cat acquiesces to his demand. The cat symbolizes the way that brutally oppressive regimes treat their people and how the people treat the oppressors. The symbolism suggests that all the man had to do to keep from being eaten at all was to say no and fight back.
California
The trip to the train station is the beginning of the fulfillment of Hosam’s dream of living in California. To get there he must spend the night in the home of his friend Khaled whom he hasn’t seen in quite some time. Then both men go to the train station but while Hosam moves on, Khaled circles back home. This symbolizes Hosam’s quick stay in purgatory where he is quickly judgment to be worthy of moving on to heaven. California represents heaven for Hosam.
Fig Tree
Following the liberation of Benghazi during the Arab Spring, restrictions on internet use in Libya are completely lifted and communications become less dangerous. Khaled receives a phone call from his father who tells him about a fig tree in the courtyard that had been on the verge of dying for years. In the wake of the revolution, however, the fig tree has made a remarkable recovery and now produces enough figs that he will be forced to make jam. The fig tree, of course, symbolizes the state of decay of the body politic under authoritarian suppression and how rebellion and revolution can resurrect the spirt of life in people.
