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America has been a nation for over 200 years. For these 200 years America has tried its best to be a nation that upholds our unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It has always been a nation where immigrants have flocked for a new life and a chance to become successful. In the midst of this, what is called the American dream has developed into something that is constantly talked about. But what is the American dream and is it all it is said to be? In the novel The House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III there are several characters chasing after different things such as happiness, acceptance, success, and respect. However, are these things found in the American dream? Is the American dream really what people should be pursuing in life? After reading The House of Sand and Fog, the reader could conclude that it is not. The human race was made for something more than the American dream. Dubus’ novel reveals the longings of human nature and shows that these longings cannot and will not be filled by the pursuit of the American dream.
In the novel there are three main characters that are followed. All three of these characters, even though they are quite unique in background, personality, and actions, have many core commonalities. All of them struggle with their identity and their pride. All three of the characters are searching for something more than what they already have. Behrani wants respect, Kathy wants acceptance, and Lester wants to prove himself as a man. Essentially, though in different ways and aspects, they are all searching for the love of others.
Colonel Behrani is a man that was once very respected by his government, his people and his family. In America, Behrani loses this respect as he is forced to work lower class jobs and “maintain a mask for [his] children” and his friends (Dubus 164). Desperate to provide for his family, Behrani takes a risk and buys a bungalow. Behrani’s problem is not in this decision or in his motivation to provide for his family. His problems arise when he turns buying the house into an act to prove himself to his family and to earn their respect. Behrani states, “I can no longer protect my wife from troubling news the way one would a child. If she is afraid and miserable and unable to adjust to our new lives as I have, if she cannot respect me or stand by me another day, then so be it…this is life…our life” (Dubus 170). There are two things the reader can conclude from this quotation. The first is that by stating, “if she cannot respect me” Behrani shows he does not believe he has the respect of his wife. The second is that though he appears to be giving up on earning their respect (“so be it”) the reader can see that it has been one of Behrani’s chief concerns up to this point. This is confirmed when his wife tells him later “you need everyone to respect you, even strangers must respect you” (Dubus 285).
Kathy Nicolo is a young woman who is longing to be accepted and loved. The reader can see in Kathy’s relationship with her father that she longed for his acceptance of her, his attention, and most of all his love. She not only states that her “father…was always a stranger to [her]” (Dubus 248), but when she was young she purposely allowed herself to “burn her fingertips” in order to preserve the little time she did get to spend with her father wanting her father to be “proud he had such a useful daughter” (Dubus 204). On top of never having experienced the love of a true father, Kathy is most clearly rejected by her husband Nicky and is constantly in fear of being rejected by her mother. She sees her mother as someone who will love her conditionally based on her situation and her actions; someone who constantly seems to be asking “what did you do this time Kathy? (Dubus 363). The reader could conclude that one of the main reasons Kathy wants her father’s house back so badly is that she is in fear of being rejected by the only people she has left in her life.
Lester Burdon is a young deputy sheriff that seems to have it all. If someone was to give an example of someone who has the American dream, Lester Burdon seems to have it. He has a beautiful wife, two kids, a nice house, and a great job as a “field training officer for the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Department, one of eight in the entire county, and of those eight, he [is] the youngest” (Dubus 232). However Lester is haunted by a past of abuse and by a lack of identity in himself as a man. He feels he is a fake and has a vendetta to bring justice to the strong who oppress the weak by “coming down harder” on “the bullies, the wife and child beaters, the suspected rapists, [and] anyone who used his weight to crush another” (Dubus 232). He lacks joy and since he has not found it in the typical American dream; he begins to look elsewhere for something more.
By looking at these three characters in depth the reader can see the similarities between them and the rest of human nature. Every single person in the human race has a desire to be loved, a desire to be respected, to be successful, and to have peace and joy. In society today, many people try to find these things by way of the American dream. The majority of people would most likely define the American dream as having a chance to be successful, to provide for one’s family, and have the opportunity to become whatever you want to be. America has a notion that you can do anything if you put your mind to it. In the novel, we see Dubus’ characters chasing after their longings by way of the American dream. Behrani thinks that if everything works out with the house and if he is successful, then his family will respect him. Kathy thinks that if she gets her house back then at least her mother will not reject her or not be angry with her for losing the house. Lester thinks that if he can help Kathy get her house back not only will he be getting back at the “bullies” of society, but also he will have proved his manhood. All of the characters seem to think that getting the house will be the answers to their problems. That if they could just get the house then they will be loved, then they will be happy, then they will have peace. Unfortunately instead of finding love and happiness, they find death and captivity.
This perception shown by the characters of where to find love, joy, and peace is not much different from the majority of Americans today. Materialism is rampant. Money, sex, climbing up the corporate ladder, a house, a family, all seem to be the things looked to in order to make a person happy. While none of these things are in and of themselves bad (they are actually good things), they are not where love, peace and joy are found. Early in the novel Kathy refers to an old friend named Jimmy Doran who makes a statement saying, “America is the land of milk and honey. But they never tell you the milk’s gone sour and the honey’s stolen” (Dubus 38). This is a perfect description of how the American dream cannot fulfill the desires of human nature. Many chase after it and never achieve it while those who do achieve it find out that it is not all it is cracked up to be. Those who do achieve the American dream find out it’s not the source of true joy and peace while those who don’t also never find joy and peace because they think they need the American dream to get them. Tom Brady, star quarterback of the New England Patriots is a prime example. Brady is a man who literally came out of nowhere to lead the Patriots to three Super Bowl rings. He’s dated supermodels, will make over $26 million in 2010, has popularity and respect, and yet knows that there must be something more in life. In 2007, Brady said in an interview on 60 minutes, “Why do I have three Super Bowl rings and still think there’s something greater out there for me? I mean, maybe a lot of people would say, ‘Hey man, this is what is.’ I reached my goal, my dream, my life. I think, ‘God, it’s got to be more than this.’ I mean this isn’t, this can’t be what it’s all cracked up to be…” ("60 Minutes"). Then if the reader looks at the characters in the novel, everything they are chasing after, respect, acceptance from the world, a house, seems to make them think these things will make them happy. But Tom Brady already has all these things and still does not have an understanding of his purpose, or the source of true love, joy, and peace.
If the American dream is not the source of love, joy and peace then what is?
Behrani, Kathy, Lester have all lived live where they have had to earn the respect, attention, acceptance, and most of all the love of other people. They have experienced these things only to level of where it is based on what they do. If they succeed, then they will be respected, if they don’t screw up, then they will be accepted, or if they prove their manhood, then they will be loved. What they don’t realize is that there is a God in heaven who loves, respects, and accepts them unconditionally. God is love (1 John 4:8) and He loves people regardless of what they have done, are doing, or even will do. People do not need to earn His love; they do not need to prove their self worth to anybody because God already sees them as beautiful, valuable, and precious in His sight. Not only that but God himself came to earth as His creation, was born in a cave with animals, raised in a poor town, lived homeless, was ridiculed, mocked, beaten, falsely accused, had all his friends abandon him, was treated unfairly, spit on, and ultimately bled and suffocated to death nailed to a piece of wood in order to prove that He loves unconditionally. God did not wait for someone to earn His love and then die for them, He died first. “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).
In the novel, the character perhaps to come closest to this revelation is Kathy when she sees Doug’s bumper sticker, “Let go and Let God” (Dubus 159). However, though she ponders this statement she does not take the advice. Instead she refuses to let go of a material object (her house) as well as her old way of life. Had she chosen to “let go and let God,” and to trust Him with the situation, not only would she not have experienced the pain and ordeal of trying to get the house back but she would have had the opportunity to see a God who loves her, provide for her, take care of her, and show her that her value and worth is not found in how other people think of her. Rather it is found by being a child of the living God, by being a lover of and romancer with the uncreated God of the universe, and by sharing in the inheritance of Jesus in this life and the next. Instead by holding on to her anger, her stubbornness, and her old way of life she missed out on the true life, joy and peace that God has to offer her.
Behrani also comes close to finding the source of true life. He believes in God, but unfortunately he has a wrong perception of God. At the end of the novel, Behrani cries out to God in desperation trying to “make a deal” to keep his son alive. Behrani states that “I must make nazr to god as did my uncle Hadi when I was a boy and his wife, Shamsi, lay sick in bed and my uncle made nazr to God that if He would heal Shamsi, Hadi would give thousands of tomans to a drove each day to the largest mosque in Tabriz and fed seed to the pigeons there, and after only five days my aunt Shamsi was well (Dubus 329).” Behrani understands that God can heal his son, but he misses God’s motivation. God will not heal Behrani’s son because of something Behrani does or will do, God will heal his son because He loves him and He will do it for free. Behrani sees God as someone who will love conditionally based on what he does and therefore his actions come out of that as he tries to prove himself to his family and the world around him in order to earn respect.
Lester, though he seems closest to happiness externally based on his situation, he is probably farther from the truth than anybody. He lets his regret, anger, and “emotions over-rule his better judgment” (Dubus 237). He lets himself think he is not a man and that he has to prove to the world that he is. The book states, “Lester began to feel as inauthentic a man as was possible, living in a marriage he no longer felt, working as a law enforcer when he’d never been able to face any man down on his own, to serve or protect anyone without the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Department behind him” (Dubus 240). If Lester would understand that God loves Him unconditionally and how God forgives Him no matter what; it would have been more possible for him to forgive those who beat him up as well as forgiving his dad for leaving when he was younger. Then instead of trying to get back at them and prove that he is a man by “squeezing the cuffs on too tight,” (Dubus 233) not bothering “to guide their heads” (Dubus 233) as they got into the cop car, and by putting “a wife abuser away illegally” (Dubus 232) he would instead be able to see that he does not need to prove his manhood to anybody. If he would have seen this then perhaps he would agree with his wife that he was not meant to be a cop and then instead of doing what made him temporarily feel good he would be doing something else that he really enjoyed. This would have kept him out of being bored with his life and would probably have made his marriage more exciting.
Lastly we have the issue of fear. The characters act many times based on their fears, assumptions, and impulses. At the end of the novel, Lester busts into Behrani’s house impulsively after he sees his gun in the kitchen. Thinking Kathy must be in danger he ends up holding Behrani and his family captive. This eventually results in the deaths of Behrani and his family as well as the arrests of Kathy and Lester. This situation would not have happened had Lester not had fear about what was going on. If Behrani didn’t fear what others thought about him he would not have so badly needed to keep the house. If Kathy didn’t fear the rejection of her family she would have realized that instead of needing the house back she could just sue the county, get some money and be just fine. Fear is not something that should have to affect a person’s decisions, because when someone knows God’s love they realize “there is no fear in love, but His perfect love casts out fear” (1 John 4:18).
The American dream is not bad. Money, a house, a family, and success are not bad things. However as shown by the characters in The House of Sand and Fog the reader can see that these things in themselves do not satisfy the longing of the human heart. They do not bring ultimate peace, joy or life. Instead the path of life is found in a relationship with Jesus for “He makes known to us the path of life; in His presence there is fullness of joy; and in His right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalms 16:11). Jesus came that [human beings] may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10). The human race was made for more than the American Dream, each person was made for love, to love God and be loved by Him unconditionally. It is the purpose of an individual to be outrageously loved, and to take that love and follow the plans , purposes, and destiny that God has prepared for them. This and only this, is what brings true life, true joy, and true peace.
Works Cited
"60 Minutes." 60 Minutes. CBS. 23 Dec. 2007. Www.cbsnews.com. 23 Dec. 2007. Web. 27 Sept. 2010.
Bible Gateway. Web. 27 Sept. 2010.
Dubus, Andre. House of Sand and Fog. New York: Vintage Contemporaries, 2000. Print.
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