58 pages • 1 hour read
Behold the Dreamers
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Symbols & Motifs
Barack Obama
The events of the novel occur during the 2008 American presidential election, during which then-senator Barack Obama—black-identified, the child of a multiracial union, and the son of Kenyan man—was on the cusp of becoming the first person of color to become president. Obama appears in Chapter 1 on a magazine cover with the headline “WHITES’ GREAT HOPE? BARACK OBAMA AND THE DREAM OF A COLOR-BLIND AMERICA” (5). He serves as the symbol of a more racially-equal America and the possibility of the immigrant’s American Dream becoming a reality in the novel.
The Limo
The limousine is a classic symbol of wealth because it indicates that the time of the person driven about by the driver is too valuable to be wasted in doing something as mundane as driving, and that the labor of the driver is at the disposal of the affluent passenger. The limo symbolizes the difference in class position between Clark and Jende. The limo is also an interior that gives the reader insight into the terrible reality of the lives of some of the rich. As a driver, Jende witnesses Mighty and Cindy in tears, the destruction of Lehman Brothers and Clark’s role in it, and the fraying relationship between Vince and his family. These scenes show that wealth is no insulator against unhappiness.
India and Costa Rica
Vince flees his family twice, once by going on a retreat in Costa Rica and another time by going to India, a trip that is supposed to represent his repudiation of his family’s obsession with material things. These countries, in Vince’s mind, represent a simpler, more authentic, more spiritual life that counters American materialism. Both countries are favored destinations for American expatriates, especially wealthy ones, so Vince’s travels to these countries ironically represent the degree of privilege it takes to reject the affluence on offer from his family.
Clark’s Tie of Many Flags
Ties are traditionally symbols of masculinity. Clark has a tie that has images of the flags of many countries on it. Early in the financial crisis, Clark leaves his tie at the Chelsea Hotel, during one of his sessions with an escort. Clark’s carelessness over this detail reflects his cavalier attitude toward fidelity in his marriage and his rejection of the suffocating restrictions he feels as a man of his class. Jende, despite Clark’s advice to switch out his clip-on for a real tie, notices the missing tie and refuses to emulate his employer’s example when it comes to his relationship with his wife. Jende’s clip-on and his belief in the significance of Clark forgetting the tie is a measure of the differences in the two men’s concepts of masculinity, especially in terms of their ideas about properly fulfilling responsibility to family.
Cindy’s Castoffs
Cindy has a closet full of designer clothes she does not use and fancy toys with which Mighty does not play. After Neni discovers Cindy’s drug habit, Cindy appeals to Neni to keep her secret based on the sisterhood of women, but Cindy seals the deal by giving Neni access to her castoffs. This exchange highlights the transactional nature of relationships between employers and subordinates and undercuts the idea that sisterhood can overcome the differences of race, class, and nationality that separate Cindy and Neni. The excessive nature of the designer castoffs also points to the excess of wealth that accrues to winners in America’s capitalist system.
New York
Historically a major point of entry into America and the financial center of the United States, New York serves as a symbol of multicultural American identity and American capitalism.
For the Jongas, New York runs the gambit, from the black enclave of Harlem, where they struggle financially but are nevertheless making progress on their dreams, to Columbus Circle, named after New World explorer Christopher Columbus. For the Jongas, New York represents the dream of becoming American and the idea of possibility and self-discovery that they find in such a setting as Columbus Circle or New York’s parks. Neni has a more incisive take on New York as a melting pot that serves as a foundation for the American Dream: on one excursion, she notices that people tend to stick to their own kind, an observation that highlights the degree to which American values are countered by the reality of class and racial differences.
The orbit in which the Edwards family circulates is different to this other New York. Clark works on Wall Street, symbol of American capitalism, and he and his family live and work in some of the more affluent parts of the city. Their vacation home in the Hamptons is a monument to their excessive wealth and the accompanying downsides. This New York and the gap between Harlem and Manhattan underscore the class distinctions that threaten the American system. Clark’s visits to the Chelsea, a hotel famed for its artists and New York eccentrics, represent Clark’s efforts to escape the golden constraints of his privileged life for something more authentic.
Finally, the novel is built upon the intersection among the lives of the Edwards and Jonga family members in New York spaces. Mbue’s decision to make these encounters bound by rigid social controls that are mostly in the hands of the adult members of the Edwards family underscores the impact of privilege on the lives of the characters.
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