Behold the Dreamers
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40 free Behold the Dreamers trivia questions with answers — literature quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Imbolo Mbue's debut novel follows two New York families through the 2008 financial crisis: the Jongas, immigrants chasing a secure life in America, and the Edwardses, the wealthy couple who employ them. It is a story about marriage, class and immigration, and about how far people will go to hold on to the American Dream. This quiz covers the plot from its opening scene to the final journey home, the main and minor characters on both sides of the divide, and the secrets that bind the two households together. It also asks about the author, the book's title, and the prizes and praise that followed publication. It suits book clubs, students revising the novel for class, and readers who want to check how much of the story stayed with them. Every answer comes with a short explanation.
30 of 40 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What job does Jende Jonga land with Wall Street executive Clark Edwards in Behold the Dreamers?
Chauffeur
Chauffeur to a senior banker is the break Jende can hardly believe in the fall of 2007, and it gives his family hope of a foothold in America.
Q 02Which investment bank, whose 2008 bankruptcy was America's largest ever, employs Clark Edwards in Behold the Dreamers?
Lehman Brothers
Lehman Brothers collapses in September 2008, sending Clark into a tailspin and putting the Jonga family's livelihood at risk.
Q 03Which African country do Jende and Neni Jonga leave for New York, then return to, in Behold the Dreamers?
Cameroon
Cameroon is also author Imbolo Mbue's homeland; she was raised in its English-speaking region before moving to the United States to study.
Q 04Which celebrity chose Behold the Dreamers for her widely followed book club in June 2017, ten months after publication?
Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey announced the pick in late June 2017, and Mbue has said she was left speechless when the call came.
Q 05With what kind of scene does Behold the Dreamers open, as Jende Jonga appears in a carefully chosen suit?
A job interview
A job interview in Clark Edwards's office opens the book: a blip in a busy day for the banker, and everything for Jende, who arrives with a doctored CV.
Q 06Which profession does Neni Jonga dream of entering while studying at a New York college in Behold the Dreamers?
Pharmacist
Pharmacist is Neni's goal because of the respect the profession always commanded in her hometown, so she studies chemistry to get there.
Q 07Which poet's "Let America Be America Again" gave Imbolo Mbue the idea for the title Behold the Dreamers?
Langston Hughes
Langston Hughes supplied a line about dreamers that Mbue could not get over, and she decided the characters' dreams were the centre of the story.
Q 08Which politician did a Washington Post review headline call the one person who should read Behold the Dreamers now?
Donald Trump
Donald Trump was a presidential candidate when critic Ron Charles's review ran in August 2016, three months before the election.
Q 09What personal setback during the 2008 financial crisis led Imbolo Mbue to begin writing Behold the Dreamers?
She lost her job
She lost her job, then spent more than a year and a half unemployed, an experience that changed how she saw the promise of America.
Q 10In which Upper Manhattan neighborhood do Jende and Neni Jonga rent a small apartment in Behold the Dreamers?
Harlem
Harlem is home for Jende, Neni and their young son, far uptown from the Edwards family's apartment on the Upper East Side.
Q 11Which immigration lawyer invents the persecution story behind Jende Jonga's asylum claim in Behold the Dreamers?
Bubakar
Bubakar runs his practice from Flatbush, Brooklyn, with hundreds of African clients across the country, though Jende's cousin doubts his competence.
Q 12What is the name of Jende and Neni Jonga's young son, brought to New York in 2006 in Behold the Dreamers?
Liomi
Liomi is a sweet, sensitive six-year-old who idolizes his father and does well at school, where his mother presses him hard to succeed.
Q 13Where is the Edwards family's summer house, at which Neni takes a temporary job in Behold the Dreamers?
The Hamptons
The Hamptons job lasts four weeks one summer, with Neni standing in for the family's regular housekeeper and looking after the younger son.
Q 21By what name is the Edwards family's nine-year-old younger son known in Behold the Dreamers?
Mighty
Mighty, caught between his feuding parents, bonds with Neni and finds the laughter missing from his own home at a farewell dinner in the Jongas' apartment.
Q 22Which secretary to Clark Edwards befriends Jende and later struggles to find work in Behold the Dreamers?
Leah
Leah, about sixty, cannot land a job after the bank's collapse; Jende pities her, though her old boss insists she will be fine.
Q 23What secret task does a suspicious Cindy Edwards give Jende in Behold the Dreamers, after her husband loses a tie?
Logging Clark's movements
Q 14Where does Clark Edwards slip away for secret hour-long evening appointments as his bank falters in Behold the Dreamers?
Chelsea Hotel
Chelsea Hotel visits become routine for Clark after the collapse, until a tie he leaves behind there makes his wife suspicious.
Q 15Which country does Vince Edwards move to after rejecting a corporate career in Behold the Dreamers?
India
India draws Vince in search of truth beyond his parents' materialism, and once there he thinks about opening a retreat centre for executives.
Q 16What does Clark Edwards ask Jende Jonga to sign soon after hiring him in Behold the Dreamers?
A confidentiality agreement
A confidentiality agreement bars Jende from repeating a word of what he overhears, which later traps him between husband and wife.
Q 17In Jende Jonga's false asylum claim in Behold the Dreamers, which relative is supposedly trying to kill him?
His father-in-law
His father-in-law is cast as the villain in a tale that Jende concocts with his immigration lawyer, who insists it will win over a judge.
Q 18What work does Neni Jonga do to earn money while attending college in Behold the Dreamers?
Home health aide
Home health aide shifts with elderly clients, paid in cash through an agency because she has no green card, bring in money until Jende insists that she stay home.
Q 19What legal status allows Neni Jonga to join Jende in New York in Behold the Dreamers?
Student visa
Student visa status lets Neni arrive legally in 2006 with the couple's son, two years after Jende came on a three-month visitor's permit.
Q 20Which cousin of Jende Jonga, a Wall Street lawyer, helps him get his big break in Behold the Dreamers?
Winston
Winston put Jende up for a month when he first reached New York, and his recommendation is what gets his cousin through the banker's door.
Logging Clark's movements in a notebook puts Jende in a bind, so he asks his boss, who tells him to comply but leave certain stops out.
Q 24After Clark Edwards fires him, which restaurant job does Jende Jonga go back to in Behold the Dreamers?
Dishwasher
Dishwasher pay is a small fraction of what the Edwards family paid him, for twice the work, and the grind helps turn Jende against staying.
Q 25What does Neni Jonga show Cindy Edwards to extract $10,000 after Jende is fired in Behold the Dreamers?
A compromising photo
A compromising photo, taken during Neni's summer job, wins her the cash in a paper bag, and Jende is outraged when she brings it home.
Q 26What does Cindy Edwards give Neni in return for keeping a secret during her summer job in Behold the Dreamers?
Her old clothes
Her old clothes, plus toys her younger son has outgrown, seal the deal at a poolside breakfast where Cindy admits she came from a poor family.
Q 27By what short name do Jende and Neni Jonga call their daughter, born in New York in Behold the Dreamers?
Timba
Timba, short for Amatimba, is born in December 2008 and is the only member of the Jonga family who is an American citizen by birth.
Q 28Which Greenwich Village pastor does Neni Jonga confide in about her family's troubles in Behold the Dreamers?
Natasha
Natasha leads Judson Memorial Church and pledges its support, yet Jende is outraged that Neni has told strangers about his immigration case.
Q 29What plan does Neni's friend Betty suggest so that Neni can remain in America in Behold the Dreamers?
A green-card marriage
A green-card marriage to Betty's cousin, an American citizen, would mean divorcing Jende first, and the idea infuriates him.
Q 30What kills Cindy Edwards in March 2009, months after her husband's bank fails in Behold the Dreamers?
Drugs and alcohol
Drugs and alcohol prove fatal when Cindy, long reliant on wine and painkillers, chokes while passed out; Jende prays for her from the last pew at her funeral.