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Class and Interdependence

There were many themes in the book “Behold The Dreamers”, one of them being class and interdependancy. This theme shows the differences between low and high classes as well as the dependence of a family. Imbolo Mbue didn’t focus on this theme too much in the beginning, it was seen more towards the middle of the book. The author talks a lot about the economy and how the lower class were more affected compared to the higher classes. The Edwards have employees that depend on them, which scare the employees because they could lose their job at any time.

This theme pertains to the book because the economy is a big part of the story which fits with the two social classes. For example, in the book, when the economy crashed, the Edwards were unaffected, while those who work for them were afraid of ending up unemployed since they weren’t wealthy. Mbue shows how the class system places the lower class at a disadvantage, as they are always the first to suffer because of who they depend on. Jende was dependent of Clark because of his job, but he was fired because of how the company was doing, so Jende was the one affected. This shows how the lower class depended on the higher classes for jobs and money. Mbue does a good job mixing these themes into the book and show her perspective.