House Of Sand And Fog Summary

House of Tragedy The novel entitled, House of Sand and Fog was written by Andre Dubus III and is based around the Behrani family who fled from their native country of Iran after the Iranian revolution. They found themselves in America living in an apartment way too expensive for their income. This forces Massoud Behrani to find a job without much training outside of the military this becomes difficult. Behrani takes two jobs one as a trash collector and the other as a convenience store clerk, both of which he is very ashamed of. Despite his hatred for these jobs his wife, Nadi refuses to move into a smaller more reasonable home. Nadi is traditional and believes that their family must keep their image even if they are drowning in bills. The
In their home country of Iran he was a man of power and a part of the military, which made him very respectable. He also has a very sweet and tender side especially when speaking of his children, “My daughter, Soraya, was married on Saturday and I feel already there is a hole in my chest with her gone” (Dubus III 17). Behrani is a complex character, possibly the most complex of the book. In the beginning of this novel he seems like a man chasing the American dream. Of course he is not happy with the position he is in but he has hope that things will get better and he can give his family the things they have dreamt of. There are days that he brings flowers home for his wife, conversations with his son about the future and how he should treat others, and the violence. Towards the end of the novel when Esmail has died this sparked something in Behrani outside of his capabilities. The man that the reader is introduced to would not strangle another person and would not kill his wife, however he does. This complexity is what makes the novel so surprising and intriguing, without Behrani’s sudden turn to desperation it would be hard to understand that kind of depth. On the other hand, the most straightforward character of this novel would be Behrani’s wife Nadi. She is a women scorn and resentful and you don’t need to hear her speak to know this. Behrani speaks about her,
Unfortunately this is the world we live in today. I have to agree with Behrani in his assumption that Kathy and Lester acted like children. I do not agree that all Americans act this way however there is a sense of entitlement when it comes to sharing our country. I think an important to remember that this is a country made up of immigrants, from all over the world. Not only should we accept one another we should celebrate the diversity of the people we are. The separation exposed in this novel although fiction is very real today, and in recent events around the world is even more relatable. Our idea of what should be is the real foundation of racism, and separation of races. As Behrani explains his wife’s sadness he says, that her ideas of what should be have hurt her soul more than anything tangible has in their lives. Living with the attitude that only Americans know what America should look like is the greatest mistake we can