In House of
Sand and Fog, Dubus opens his book with the quote “Beyond myself somewhere
I wait for my arrival” from a poem by Octavio Paz. This quote is appropriate for the book
because Colonel Behrani, Kathy Nicolo, and Lester Burdon all arrive at a
specific destination by the book’s end. In
the process, they each try to establish their identity in a new setting and work
towards a particular goal which depends on the cooperation or manipulation of
others for its realization. The tragic ending of the story is a result of each
of these characters losing sight of their goal and their newfound identities.
Colonel Behrani is the immigrant in House of Sand and Fog. Before coming to America, he was an officer
under the government of the Shah in Iran.
In America, Behrani finds his identity in protecting his family rather
than a military title. He buys Kathy Nicolo’s house in an attempt to provide a
way for his son to pay for college. Behrani
kills his wife and commits suicide at the end of the book because he feels he
is no longer able to protect his family following the death of his son. He believes it is better for them to join his
executed friend General Pourat and his family in heaven than live in America
without justice and without their son.
Kathy
Nicolo loses her house as a result of not opening mail which would have warned
her of the coming auction. Her husband
Nick also leaves her. These two events
cause her to be depressed and experience low self-esteem. When Lester Burdon enters her life, she finds
her identity within his love for her. Her
need for his attention blinds Kathy to the harmful impact of their relationship
on her life as she begins smoking and drinking again. It is only when she believes that Lester is
not coming back to her that she leaves the campground, becomes drunk, and
points a gun at a woman at the gas station.
Her act of finding identity in her connection with Lester eventually
leads her to prison. Surprisingly, this
destination offers the stability she had been seeking after she lost her house
and her husband.
Lester
Burdon finds his identity in seeking justice as a police officer. However, he takes this too far when he allows
himself to get emotionally involved. His
relationship with Kathy Nicolo prevents him from seeing the conflict about her
house impartially. As he tries to
protect Kathy, he compromises the law by breaking into the Behrani’s house and
threatening them at gunpoint. His
actions lead to the death of the colonel’s son and his own imprisonment.
House of Sand and Fog is different from
some of the other books we have read in that Dubus contrasts the immigrant
experience with that of the displaced American.
His book shows that both of these experiences are the same in many
ways. The uncertainty of the immigrant
in the search for identity is not unlike the instability many Americans face
throughout their lives, especially as relationships and living situations are
lost.
