The theme for Behold the Dreamers that we were assigned was family and belonging. Family means a group of parents and children living together in a household. Belonging refers to fitting or feeling like you are important member of group. Altogether what this means is that in a family everyone feels like they belong with each other. Also everyone has each others back no matter the circumstance. This is the case for Behold The Dreamers because we have two situations about two different families. In this case one of them being the Edwardses family while the other one being the Jongas family.
Behold The Dreamers gives us two interpretations on how family and belonging pertain to this story. For example, for the first interpretation, the Edwardses; we have a family that is completely broken apart and has no sense of belonging. Vince, the son, plans to quit his school and move to India in order to get away from his parents materialistic views. Cindy, the mother, has an alcohol problem and constantly drinks due to family issues but hides her problem from her family. Finally, Clark, the father, who is constantly worried about work, doesn't get enough sleep nor spends enough time with his family. Here we have a family with no sense of belonging. No one in the family appears to talk anything out, nor care about what anyone is feeling. There is constant problems in the family and no one is taking initiative to fix it. No one seems to have each others back nor care for what that person is going through.
The second interpretation we have the Jongas family. Here we have an immigrant family that has came to America for the American Dream. Jende saves up bring his girlfriend (Neni) and his son over once he arrives. Jende and Neni both make the bare minimum in order to live and have a house in New York. During tough times the family does not give up on each other and communicate everything clearly. For example, when Jende gets fired Neni stands up to Cindy and gets cash back in order to help their situation. Also when they are all out of options they head back to their home town together. Here we have a family that has a sense of belonging. They work together in order to get through tough times and communicate effectively. They also have each others back no matter the situation establishing a sense of belonging with each other.
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