Behold the Dreamers

After receiving the bad news, Neni stoically carries on with school and work. It seems unfair to her that her desire to stay in the country is in someone else's hands. Six days after receiving the bad news, Neni realizes that she is pregnant.

That day, Neni goes to a parent-teacher conference during which Liomi's teacher (a prosperous woman who may be the child of immigrants) informs Neni that Liomi is so distracted by the antics of his friend, Billy, that he does not always pay attention in class, despite several requests for better behavior from the teacher.

Afterward, Neni gives Liomi a stern lecture, during which she reminds him that school is not for leisure or play. It is for learning, which will secure him an education and a job that will allow him to be successful: a lawyer or a doctor. When Liomi tells his mother that he wants to be a chauffeur like his father, Neni tells him that his father is a chauffeur not out of choice but because he never finished his education and never will because he has to support his family now. “‘School,’” Neni tells Liomi, “is everything” for people like the Jongas (68).