Significance of Avocado tree

The avocado tree that Michael and Sara plant in their tiny Dublin apartment symbolizes Michael and Sara's stubbornly stable relationship. Sara says she "planted it one day, half-jokingly, in a way that was entirely wrong" (25). But after Michael watched a YouTube video on how to properly care for it, it grows tall and strong, seeming never to die. Sara can't help but resent it. The pot she used to plant it in turned out to be not a "grave" but a "cunning cradle. It's Michael's fault" (25). In this way, the tree symbolizes how Sara and Michael's relationship will continue to live, despite Sara resenting Michael and secretly wishing that the relationship would end. After she tells Michael she is jetting off to Bosnia to pick up Lejla, she half-expects him to break up with her and put her out of her misery; instead, he says "'Sure, whatever you need'" (28). Sara resents him for it, and looks at the avocado tree with loathing. "The avocado tree kept growing, silent and still. Its stubborn life embarrassed