House of Sand and Fog

In the novel’s longest chapter, Dubus shifts to a third-person narrative voice rooted in Lester Burdon’s perspective. This chapter is an in-depth character study of the deputy who has previously only been characterized through Kathy and Behrani’s perceptions of him. This chapter illustrates a key tension between Lester’s desire to improve the world around him and his deep-seated feeling that he is ultimately a coward. It also represents a major statement in one of the novel’s primary themes, which deals with the ways people misperceive one another. Through this narration of Lester’s feelings and memories, Dubus reveals that Kathy and Behrani have both come to accurate but fragmentary conclusions about the deputy’s character. Unlike either of the novel’s primary protagonists, who fear being misunderstood by those around them, Lester worries that people will see “through his uniform and badge and gun […] that Officer Burdon was an impostor, that he was one of those men who has never been in a fight and come out ahead” (233), and realize that he is a coward.

Although it isn’t explicitly stated, this chapter reveals that Lester possesses racist assumptions that seep into his police work and explain his aggressive action against the Behranis later in the novel. This bias is borne of the bullying he received at the hands of his Latino schoolmates, particularly an incident when his girlfriend’s brother pushed him down a set of stairs. Given that he was on his way to be intimate with his girlfriend when he was attacked, this incident can be read as sexualized trauma. His attempt to save Kathy from the Behranis (despite her being in no danger from them) comes across as an effort to undo this trauma and to assert sexual, masculine dominance over a person of color—in this case Massoud Behrani.

This chapter also reveals how Lester met Carol and how he eventually lost his attraction to her, which helps explain his attraction to Kathy and his willingness to leave his family. When they met in college, Lester was attracted to Carol’s moral integrity and desire to uncover and address global injustice. After an unplanned pregnancy forced them to focus on practical concerns, Lester’s attraction to Carol dwindled as her “intellectual fires and righteous indignation had died down” (240). He is burdened by regret, which ties him to the past in much the same way as his teenage trauma. Kathy represents an opportunity to start over, and in her Lester detects something of the inner fire that Carol once possessed. When they first met, he saw Kathy “all incredulous but brave about the news they delivered” (242), and it was this determination that sparked his desire.