Love and loss
The novel uses the suggestion of romantic imagery for creative purposes in the novel. Saeed and Nadia start the novel by falling in love, but little by little, their innocence is removed as horrific new tragedies start happening in their nameless community. Their love keeps them together through tough times, but by the time they have traveled through several westward doors, having survived terrorist attacks and violent gun fights, having witnessed the deaths of parents, now their relationship is not romantic anymore. They walk away from each other, raising the question of this imagery. Why was the romantic imagery employed and then taken away? One answer is that it is a way of showing the intensity of their suffering.
Life as a refugee
The imagery of refugee living is there from the beginning of the novel. The community has some political refugees from nearby nations where political hostility has made living unsafe. But, that's about the size of it, for the most part until little by little, the tension rises and the two main characters start realizing that their own community is unsafe too. They end up having to evacuate and suddenly, they are refugees. Their journey as refugees takes them by the grace of friendly strangers to new places to live.
The journey west
The West represents a kind of freedom from the hostility of their community. Obviously, moving over one or two borders won't suffice; there is instability in the whole region, a la "Arab Spring." They have an instinctual urge to get far away from the conflict. They start by going to Greece where a young girl helps them secure passage to London, and then from London ghettos, the two find a new path westward all the way to America, all the way in fact to California. This use of imagery shows their desperation for escape.
Violence and horror
The outbreak of violence and political instability is a horror that grows in intensity until the city is fallen into complete disarray. They thought only their neighboring countries were having problems, but suddenly, Saeed's own family is changed by war. In a skirmish, Saeed's mother catches a rogue bullet and dies. The sounds of bomb concussions and assault rifles oppress them. The horror of life right on the edge of death is so disturbing that they flee for their very lives, and it is so intense that of course no one can sympathize with them. People look at them like freeloaders when in reality they were fleeing horrors that are hard to fathom.
