Describe symbolism in Dreams of My Russian Summers by Andrei Makine

In the novel's final section, the narrator's struggle between two worlds comes to an end when he realizes that he has no real blood connections to France. Though the bond between the narrator and his grandmother will never be broken, he comes to see that it isn't bloodlines that tie one to a motherland, but one's heart. Then he remembers a time when Charlotte noticed a real grapevine growing in the middle of a murdered clearing, she was overcome with joy in seeing this plant sprout from desecrated earth. Remembering this, the narrator feels an unbearable mixture of grief and joy, realizing that his life parallels the grapevine's. Yes, his birth mother is dead, symbolizing the desecrated earth, but he, like the grapevine, is still alive and thriving.