Summary: The beautiful Things that Heaven bears so far has introduced me to three of the main characters and one special character that seems to be given little information about. The main character Stephanos is a young man that has just migrated to the United States from Ethiopia; upon arriving in America Stephanos had received a job at a nice fancy hotel as the bell boy. It wasn't his favorite job, due to the little attitude that he would feel coming from his manager. He recalled him once saying that he did not need a nickname to remind him that Stephanos was Ethiopian. From that small excerpt, you can see the small hostility that the manager has for immigrants and how hard it was for him to get used to things and try to fit in. We also meet his other two friends Joseph from Congo and Kenneth from Kenya. Together these men shared the same difficulties of being an immigrant and adapting to their new lives. Stephanos also later is able to work in a deli shop, but some days he only makes 400 dollars and others he makes absolutely nothing. Sometimes, he doesn't even open the shop and closes it early before anyone else comes in. You slowly start to see him give up and start hating America more, but in time he will hopefully have that spark that will push him to succeed past all expectations; he has the somewhat positive and relieving energy from his friends and family, but the depressing feeling of that person he lost. However, in time it looks like he will learn to let go and listen to his Friends and forget of all the burdens that America has caused him and just focus on his dreams/goals.
Quote: " This country is like a little bastard child. You cant be angry when it doesn't give you what you want" (Mengestu 6).
This quote is very important because it somewhat highlights the obstacles and hardships that immigrants like Stephanos have to overcome. He was having countless troubles with the store as a whole and did not want to continue working anymore. It seemed as if he was slowly falling into a minor depression due to his friend leaving and business going down the drain. However, Joseph lifted him up and told him that in order to make it in America you have to be consistent and not give up when you don't get what you want.
Reaction: So far the novel is very interesting; it shows and tells the lives of three immigrants and how they are trying to fit in and be apart of the constant metaphor of the "American Dream." They all have little things that have limited them from being successful, including their ethnic background, but don't see that as a problem or a reason to just give up. Together they give wise advice to each other to keep each other going so that each and everyone of them has a chance to succeed. They came to America with a goal, they had the advantage of having cheaper utilities like gas and sought more opportunities. They each just want to be given a chance and will not give up until they are accepted into the American Dream committee.
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