Behold the Dreamers Themes

Behold the Dreamers takes a critical look at the American Dream—that is, the idea that anyone who is willing to work hard can become prosperous in the United States. For each of the novel’s characters, prosperity means something different. For Jende Jonga, it means earning a good living and eventually moving his family out of their roach-infested Harlem apartment and into a comfortable home. For his wife, Neni, it means fulfilling her dream…

Jende Jonga enters the United States in the summer of 2004 on a three-month visitor’s visa with the hope that, within his allotted time, he can get a green card or an American passport. He’s determined to escape from the “future of poverty and despondency” that characterizes his life in Cameroon in favor of “[claiming] his share of the milk, honey, and liberty flowing in the paradise-for-strivers called America.” Jende’s dream of making it in…

Both the Edwardses and the Jongas place pressure on their sons to have lucrative, prestigious jobs. Both also expect their sons to play active, professional roles in American society—an ambition that may have been less pronounced if Clark Edwards’s and Jende Jonga’s eldest children were girls instead of boys. Vince Edwards and Liomi Jonga become mirrors onto which their parents project their own ideas about what makes a man successful. Mbue uses Vince…

What both the Edwards and Jonga families have in common is a mutual need to feel a sense of belonging, as well as their reliance on family to foster that sensibility. The Jongas remain anchored in an unfamiliar land by remaining closely connected to friends and family from Cameroon, particularly Jende’s cousin, Winston. Conversely, Cindy Edwards exhibits increasingly erratic and unstable behavior as her family drifts apart, starting with her eldest son, Vince…