Romantic Love

The theme of romantic love is at the heart of The Island of Missing Trees. Kostas and Meryem are the main couple that the novel focuses on. Their romance begins as teenagers and lasts well into adulthood.

Against all odds, Kostas and Defne stick together. In Chapter 34, the fig tree points out how extraordinary their love really is: “You don’t fall in love in the midst of a civil war, when you are hemmed in by carnage and by hatred on all sides… you know it can only be an eye for an eye, hurt for hurt, and it is not safe anywhere outside your own tribe” (169). Despite the fact that Kostas is Greek and Defne is Turkish, they choose to be together, regardless of what their families may think. They ignore the implications of the violence in both their community and the country...