Behold the Dreamers

“And for the very first time in her life, she had a dream besides marriage and motherhood: to become a pharmacist like the ones everyone respected in Limbe because they handed out health and happiness in pill bottles.” 

Most characters in the novel are dreamers of one sort or another. Neni’s dream to be a pharmacist in America represents her desire to escape from the restrictive gender roles to which she has been confined since she was a teen mom.

“No, people like him did not visit America. They got there and stayed there until they could return home as conquerors—as green card- or American passport-bearing conquerors with pockets full of dollars and photos of a happy life. Which was why on the day he boarded an Air France flight from Douala to Newark with a connection in Paris, he was certain he wouldn’t see Cameroon again until he had claimed his share of the milk, honey, and liberty flowing in the paradise-for-strivers called America.” 

This quote articulates the immigrant American Dream that Jende holds at the start of the novel. He hopes to make it in America through hard work. He buys into this ideology unabashedly, in other words. One of the ironies of the novel is that he achieves this dream using money he did not work for: the blackmail money Neni takes from Cindy. 

“Some along the crowded avenue looked happy, some looked sad, but none seemed to be as sad as Cindy Edwards at that moment. Her voice was so drenched in agony Jende wished someone would call her with good news, funny news, any kind of news to make her smile.”

Another irony in the novel is that the people with the most affluence seem to have the greatest spiritual poverty. This is certainly the case for Cindy, who never seems to be happy no matter what she has or does. 

“‘America has something for everyone, sir. Look at Obama, sir. Who is his mother? Who is his father? They are not big people in the government. They are not governors or senators. In fact, sir, I hear they are dead. And look at Obama today. The man is a black man with no father or mother, trying to be president over a country!’” 

This quote highlights the immigrant perspective on Obama as a symbol of making good on the American Dream. Jende views Obama as proof that anybody can succeed in America through hard work. 

“‘I thank God, and I believe I work hard, and one day I will have a good life here. My parents, they, too, will have a good life in Cameroon. And my son will grow up to be somebody, whatever he wants to be. I believe that anything is possible for anyone who is American. Truly do, sir. And in fact, sir, I hope that one day my son will grow up to be a great man like you.’” 

This quote captures how much Jende lives in two worlds as an immigrant. His vision of the good life involves a good future for immediate family but also for his extended family back home in Cameroon.

“‘They cooked their books.’” 

Leah states the simple truth that many people knew about Lehman Brothers before the company went bankrupt. This is also a moment when Jende reveals how little he (like many people later affected by the recession) knows about the workings of the company.

“No one could save him from American Immigration. He would have to go back home. He would have to return to a country where visions of a better life were the birthright of a blessed few, to a town from which dreamers like him were fleeing daily. He and his family would have to return to New Town empty-handed, with nothing but tales about what they’d seen and done in America, and when people asked why they’d returned and moved back into his parents’ crumbling caraboat house, they would have to tell a lie, a very good lie, because that would be the only way to escape the shame and the indignity. The shame he could live with, but his failings as a husband and father…”

This quote articulates the immigrant nightmare. In Jende’s mind, return is not just a failure to navigate the American immigration system but also of character and his masculine roles as father and husband. This sense of desperation is representative of important parts of the immigrant experience in America.

“‘Without school, you will be nothing. You will never be anybody. Me and Papa, we wake up every day and do everything we can so you can have a good life and become somebody one day, and you repay us by going to school and playing in class?’”(

In this quote, Neni passes on her work ethic and the value of education as a means of paying back the investment of the family in its children. This attitude is an important part of her identity as an immigrant.

“Arkamo told Jende how easy it was to get a mortgage these days, and promised that as soon as Jende was ready, he would connect him with a loan officer who could get him a zero-down-payment mortgage on a sweet mini-mansion.”

In this quote, Mbue makes an explicit connection between the subprime mortgage market that helped to precipitate the financial crisis and the financing available to immigrants like Arkamo. When the reader later learns that Arkamo has lost his home in the crisis, Mbue confirms the widespread nature of the crisis.

“He would marry his kind because a man like him needed a woman who understood his heart, shared his values and interests, knew how to give him the things he needed, accepted that his children must be raised in the same manner in which his parents had raised him, and only a woman from his homeland could do that.”

Neni’s perspective on assimilation is shown here as she contemplates Winston’s current girlfriend (a white woman) and her belief that no matter how assimilated he is, he will eventually marry within his own tribe and culture. She turns out to be right, but the means by which Winston meets Maami is via Facebook, one of the many ways that immigrants maintain connections to home cultures

“Even in New York City, even in a place of many nations and cultures, men and women, young and old, rich and poor, preferred their kind when it came to those they kept closest.”

Neni incisively notes one of the contradictions of America: despite its stated belief in melting pot ideology and racial equality, cities like New York are remarkably segregated by race and class.

“‘If we quit pulling the tricks, place the blame on someone else if we must—auditors, rogue accountants, whoever—give ourselves a chance to get straight before it gets worse. Because right now we’re pulling these tricks and the SEC’s playing dumb, but you know as well as I do that if this shit falls apart and the chaos starts spreading they’re going to throw us out for the public to crucify by claiming they didn’t know a damn thing, and we all know it’s a lie.’” 

This quote serves as evidence that Clark knows for quite a while that Lehman Brothers is engaging in shady business practices that cross the line into illegality. His desire here to figure out a way to avoid blame underscores that recognition of that wrong is not enough to make him do something about it.

“‘The whole system is a joke! People going around living meaningless lives, because it’s what they’ve been conditioned to think is good for them. Walking around completely mindless of the fact that they’re living in a society ruled by a cold-blooded cabal. How long are we going to remain in this bondage? I mean, really, how long?’” 

This quote represents a common theme with Vince: the corruption of America. While the events at his father’s company would seem to bear him out, the hyperbolic language of conspiracy seems to bear out Jende’s idea that Vince is really all about separating himself from his parents and becoming his own person, despite remaining financially dependent upon them. 

“When she entered, she had seen the frightful sight: the always composed and elegant madam splayed against the headboard of the bed, hair strands lying on her sweaty face, her hands limp on her sides, her mouth half open with saliva halfway down her chin.”

This quote captures the usually composed and beautiful Cindy undone by her addiction. Cindy’s addiction is one of the many ways she attempts to cope with her sense of inadequacy as a woman and a person. Having grown up poor, she never feels legitimate among her friends who grew up privileged. 

“‘Being poor for you in Africa is fine. Most of you are poor over there. The shame of it, it’s not as bad for you.’ Neni closed her eyes and nodded as if she completely understood and agreed. ‘Over here, it’s embarrassing, humiliating, very painful,’ Cindy continued, looking into the distance beyond the trees. ‘Waiting in lines with homeless people to enter food pantries. Living in a poorly heated house in the winter. Eating rice and SPAM for almost every dinner. Being laughed at in school. Having people treat you as if you’re some sort of…’ A lone tear dropped down her right cheek. She brushed it off with her index finger. ‘You have no idea how much I’ve endured.’” 

Cindy offers a full-throated statement of the arrogance of Americans who see non-Americans, especially people of color, as less than. The juxtaposition of her statement that poverty is fine for Africa but not for her illustrates the ignorance and lack of empathy in her worldview

“They had found a win-win solution.” 

The “win-win” solution shows the transactional nature of the relationship between Cindy and Neni. It is a small step from there for Neni to blackmail Cindy when the need for money arises. Although Neni apparently does not realize it, accepting Cindy’s bargain changes her into a person whom she does not like.

“‘Everyone…they all think they’ve got the right to treat me as they wish.’” 

Cindy’s cry from the heart to Neni is one that is rooted in a sense of oppression based on gender and her roles as mother and wife. This theme is a significant one that Mbue explores consistently in the novel. 

“‘No matter how bad it gets at work I know that at the end of the day I can send my parents on vacations to see the world, pay for every medical bill that comes up, make sure my sister doesn’t suffer because her husband’s dead, make sure my wife and sons have far more than what they need. That’s what Vince doesn’t understand. That you don’t only do what makes you happy. You think about your parents, too.’” 

Clark’s sense of gender identity is based in part on being an affluent man who can provide support to his extended family. Ironically, he accuses Vince of not understanding the importance of family while he himself neglects the emotional needs of his family in his pursuit of wealth. 

“He had brought her to America. He paid her tuition. He was her protector and advocate. He made decisions for their family. Sometimes he conferred with her about his decisions. Most times he did what he deemed best. Always she had no choice but to obey. That was what he expected of her.”

Neni’s decision to knuckle under to Jende’s highhanded decision making seems to be rooted in her sense of dependence on him. This quote illustrates this point and highlights Mbue’s exploration of how gender oppression differs between women like Cindy and Neni.

“Now she was talking about weight loss and calories and cholesterol and sugar-free this and fat-free that and stupid things no one in Limbe talked about. Now she was beginning to worry about nonsense. She was becoming a fearful wife.” 

This quote captures one of the unfortunate ways that Neni becomes more American: internalizing oppressive American beauty standards. This pressure that she faces highlights the different ways that Neni and Jende experience gender and immigrant identity.

“Cindy Eliza Edwards died on a cold afternoon in March 2009, alone in her marital bed, five weeks after Neni Jonga walked out of her apartment. Her husband was in London, on a business trip, as she lay dying. Her firstborn son was in India, walking the Path to Enlightenment. Her younger son was at the Dalton School, being groomed to become a man like his father. Her father, whose identity neither she nor her mother ever knew, had been dead for two decades. Her mother, who she believed loved her too little, had been gone for four years. Her half-sister, completely out of her life since the death of their mother, was still in Falls Church, Virginia, living a life of material comfort better than the one they had lived together as children but far less comfortable than the one Cindy had been living in New York City.”

Mbue uses the omniscient narrator’s voice to offer commentary on how Cindy’s material comforts were unable to secure her happiness or true love and support from her family. This outcome underscores the hollowness at the center of the American Dream, and also reinforces the lack of familial support and unity Cindy had as a youth—a common factor among alcoholics and addicts.

“‘There are lots of other great careers in the healthcare field, and we can help you get into those. Licensed practical nurse, ultrasound technician, medical billing and coding, lots of great careers which…you know, which will be more achievable—‘I don’t want achievable.’” 

Another foreclosure on the American Dream happens when the school official to whom Neni appeals for aid to continue school counsels her to aim lower. As a gatekeeper, the official is one of the many people who use institutional power to ensure the reproduction of inequality based on gender or immigration status. This reality counters the ideals of American equality.

“‘In short, even some people who went to law school like me cannot expect a good life in this country anymore. I read stories about Mexicans who crossed the border to enter America, and now they’re trying to cross the border to go back to their country. Why? Because there’s nothing left here for them to come and get.’” 

Winston’s comment here implies that the Great Recession was the effective end of the American Dream for many immigrants. With the number of jobs eradicated by the recession, those on the lowest socioeconomic rungs of American society had the toughest choices to make.