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Cindy Edwards
Clark and Cindy Edwards’s eldest son and Mighty’s older brother. He is a student at Columbia University School of Law. Previously, he attended the Dalton School and New York University. Jende notes that he strongly resembles his father—“bearing the same six-foot frame, slender build, and wavy hair.” Vince seeks to distance himself from his parents, whom he regards as shallow and materialistic. He refuses to follow the corporate path that his father has set and turns down the offer of an internship with Skadden, an international law firm. Instead, he plans to go live on a reservation in Arizona for a month. He confides in Jende regarding his disillusionment with American values and his desire to find truth. Vince tells Jende that he doesn’t plan to return to law school in the fall and will move to India instead. While in India, he considers building a retreat center for American executives. If this doesn’t work out, he plans to move to Bolivia.
Vince Edwards Quotes in Behold the Dreamers
The Behold the Dreamers quotes below are all either spoken by Vince Edwards or refer to Vince Edwards. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 21 Quotes
“First it was my father…he thought he had the right, you know?” Cindy said.
“Drag my mother into that abandoned house…force her… do it to her by force…don’t give a shit about…not care for a second about what would happen to the child…”
She sniffled, took another sip of wine, and wept.
“And the government…our government,” she moaned, slurring, tears running down her cheeks, snot running down her nose. “They had the right, too. Force my mother to carry the child of a stranger. Force her to give birth to the child because…because…I don’t know why!”
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Explanation and Analysis:
Cindy is crying in this passage because her eldest son Vince has recently announced that he’s dropping out of law school to move to India. She and Clark have had an argument about it, and Clark has just walked out of the house, leaving Cindy to cry alone and drunk on the kitchen floor. Neni walks in to offer kind words, if not physical comfort, due to fears of overstepping her bounds. Cindy reveals to Neni that she was the product of rape. She drunkenly narrates the tragic circumstances of her life, to Neni’s shock, as a sequence of injustices. Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedi
Chapter 23 Quotes
“At his age, all I wanted was the life that I have right now. This exact life, this was what I wanted.”
“It is a good life, sir. A very good life.”
“Sometimes. But I can understand why Vince doesn’t want it. Because these days I don’t want it, either. All this shit going on at Lehman, all this stuff we would never have done twenty years ago because we stood for something more, and now really dirty shit is becoming the norm. All over the Street. But try to show good sense, talk of consequences, have a far-long-term outlook, and they look at you as if you've lost your marbles […]”
“And I know Vince has got a point, but the problem is not some system. It is us. Each of us. We've got to fix ourselves before we can fix a whole damn country […]”
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In this passage, Jende and Clark are in a park, watching the sun set over the Hudson River. Clark is telling Jende that he admires Vince’s willingness to step away from a life of privilege in favor of going to India. Clark’s revelation that he has exactly the life that he wanted at Vince’s age is ironic because Clark is constantly stressed and feels overwhelmed by both work and personal responsibilities. The circumstances of his life are indications that the lives that people imagine, particularly when they’re constructed around the desire to earn a lot of money, can differ from Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possi
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Vince Edwards Character Timeline in Behold the Dreamers
The timeline below shows where the character Vince Edwards appears in Behold the Dreamers. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 5
...Tuesday, after Jende’s been on the job for two weeks, Cindy visits her eldest son, Vince. Jende notices how much the young man resembles his father. Cindy is ecstatic to see...
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Chapter 6
...Jende goes on to say that Limbe “is the best town in Africa,” and that Vince once told him that “it’s the type of town he wants to live in.” Clark...
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...someone else going to Arizona and then hangs up and dials another number. He’s calling Vince to say that Cindy just called to tell Clark that Vince is turning down “the...
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...about how “unbelievable” his son is. Jende longs to tell him that he’s sorry about Vince and that “nothing could be harder than a disobedient son.” Clark then calls Frank, asking...
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Chapter 16
Jende has been waiting for Vince to come out of his apartment for fifteen minutes. He arrives and hops into the...
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Jende assures Vince that his parents are “good people” and that Clark works very hard for his children....
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Jende tells Vince that he should finish school, become a lawyer, and then go to India on vacation....
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Vince tells Jende that his family’s never been close and that he’s always viewed his father...
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Vince returns to the car in an hour, with an ice pack held to his cheek....
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Chapter 18
...which they only occupy for a few months a year. The afternoon when she arrives, Vince gives her a big hug and tells her to make herself comfortable. She spends all...
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...agreement. She then tells Neni that Clark won’t be coming home that night, and that Vince is leaving after he and Mighty return. Around seven o’clock Cindy starts the engine to...
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Chapter 21
Halfway into Neni’s stay in Southampton, Vince walks into his bedroom and jumps on his newly made bed while Neni fluffs the...
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...to find out what’s going on. Mighty could only tell her that his parents and Vince are fighting and that Vince won’t say anything else to him about it until Mighty...
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...thinks that he has the right to love her less than his work. And now, Vince thinks he has the right to abandon her. Cindy’s cries grow louder. She finishes her...
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Chapter 23
...watch the sun set over the Hudson River. Jende thinks about how both Clark and Vince love sunsets and wonders if Vince knows this about his father.
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Clark tells Jende about Vince’s plans to move to India and Jende pretends that he didn’t know about them. Jende...
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Jende tells Clark that he thinks that Vince will probably return from India after several months and then “run back to law school.”...
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Chapter 25
On the day that Vince is supposed to come over for his farewell dinner, Neni spends the day cleaning the...
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At three o’clock, two hours before Vince is due to arrive, Jende’s phone rings. Vince asks if it would be all right...
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...sleep in the same bedroom and goes to Liomi’s bedroom to see his toys, while Vince and Jende drink Malta, eat peanuts, and talk about America.
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Mighty wants to hear more stories, but Vince announces that it’s time for them to leave. Mighty sulks and Liomi tries to cheer...
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Mighty keeps trying to convince Vince to let him stay longer and asks if Jende can take him home later. Neni...
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Chapter 27
...the meaning of his life and finds it strange that he’s beginning to sound like Vince. This prompts Jende to wonder how Vince is doing in India. He also thinks about...
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Chapter 32
...laughs a bit more, but she still looks unhealthily thin. She talks a lot about Vince, worrying that he hasn’t responded to her email.
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Chapter 37
...Christmas, which Mighty says he doesn’t want to talk about. He mentions that Cindy called Vince on Skype and that Vince now as “some funny-looking dreadlocks.” He then mentions that his...
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Chapter 45
...apartment. She was alone in bed because Clark was in London on a business trip, Vince was still in India, and Mighty was studying at the Dalton School, “being groomed to...
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Chapter 46
...a gray suit and plays “a beautifully imperfect” version of Claude Debussy’s “Clair de Lune.” Vince delivers the eulogy, for which he speaks in anecdotes, talking about hiking with his mother...
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Chapter 55
...the way down in Flatbush, Brooklyn. The morning after, she listens to the voicemail; it’s Vince. She calls him back, much to his surprise. He asks her about how her family...
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Vince says that, now that Mighty and Clark are okay, he’ll probably never return to the...
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Vince asks Neni to take her time to think about it, but Neni knows that she...
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Chapter 60
...Jende that family is everything, which he’s sure Jende already understands. He also says that Vince is thinking of opening a retreat center for American execs visiting Mumbai. He told Clark...
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