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Book 1, Round 2
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Bodega Dreams, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Latinx Immigrants and Broken Dreams
Crime, Wealth and Activism
Religion, Sexism, and Poverty
Loyalty, Solidarity, and Community
Summary
Analysis
One night, Blanca is working on a paper while Julio is procrastinating, which annoys Blanca as usual. Sapo knocks on the door because Bodega wants to meet Julio. Blanca immediately gets upset and holds her belly, warning Julio that she gets stressed when he leaves with Sapo. Julio pleads with Blanca, and she storms off to call her sister Negra (her real name is Deborah, but people call her Negra on account of her being the total opposite of the saintly Blanca). As Julio grabs his jacket, Sapo smiles happily and observes that Julio married a difficult one.
As before, Quiñonez highlights that Julio’s loyalty to Sapo persists even though it causes tension in his marriage and his wife’s pregnancy. Julio’s procrastination implies that maybe he is demotivated by school and subconsciously seeking for another way to empower himself. The reader learns that Blanca’s sister Negra is the opposite of her—meaning that Negra, too, likely dabbles in street politics. This reinforces the idea that many people in Spanish Harlem are pushed into lives centered on street crime because of the oppression they face as Latinx immigrants.
Themes
Sapo explains that Bodega wants something from Julio. They head to a butcher shop called Casablanca nearby. Outside, people are sitting on milk crates and playing dominoes. Bodega’s brother Nene lets them inside, where Bodega sizes Julio up, says it’s good that Julio’s in college, and concludes that Julio’s alright. Bodega explains that he intends to own the neighborhood and talks about how Puerto Rican people fought in wars but don’t get respect when they apply for jobs. He looks sad and angry, explaining that they have to take their share if they can’t get it legally. Julio is hesitant—he doesn’t like people who ramble. He’s about to leave, but Bodega pulls out a giant bag of marijuana.
Bodega alludes to another aspect of the oppression that Latinx immigrants face in New York: they’ve shown loyalty to the U.S. by fighting in wars, but white Americans still tend to treat them like second-class citizens. This suggests that the government and the elite politicians who run the system take more from Latinx immigrants than they give back, which characterizes U.S. society as exploitative. Bodega argues that breaking the law is not wrong when the people in charge of the law are already cheating Latinx immigrants.
Themes
The guys smoke and share crude banter about the women in a Playboy magazine. Bodega wants Julio to team up with his associate Nazario, a lawyer who’s helping Bodega buy and renovate buildings in the neighborhood. Nazario has been hustling to get other Puerto Ricans from the community helping with wiring and roofing, even though the cops make fun of them for trying to build “Machu Picchu” in El Barrio. So far, Bodega has placed 14 families from the neighborhood in renovated homes with cheap rent. Bodega explains that if the community needs something—rent money, shoes, or kids baseball uniforms—he takes care of it. All he wants is their loyalty; he knows they’ll riot if anything happens to him.
Bodega reveals that he’s involved in a project (along with Nazario) to improve the neighborhood, centering on providing housing, financial support, and educational resources. This shows that even though Bodega seems like a shady character who smokes cannabis and reads Playboy magazine, he’s engaging in activism directed at the empowerment of Spanish Harlem’s Latinx community. Bodega only asks for loyalty in return for his efforts because he believes it will help people band together and find a sense of solidarity with one another, which will be essential for weathering difficult moments in his project of community empowerment. Quiñonez also implies that the Latinx community can’t rely on the police, whom he depicts as racist, unhelpful, and uninformed about Latinx culture. (Machu Picchu is in Peru, while the people in the story are predominantly Puerto-Rican.)
Themes
Bodega explains that when the Black Panthers took off in the 1960s, the Puerto Rican community—including himself—started their own movement called the Young Lords. They cleaned up the neighborhood and lobbied with local government for funds. When their requests for support were denied, the Young Lords organized a riot, and the police came down on them hard. After that, they began “preaching Que Pasa Power,” stashing guns and smuggling resources through a local church. Even the old ladies helped. Bodega hustled heroin until he met Nazario and left the Young Lords. As Bodega is talking, Sapo gets up and heads down to the deli for some beers.
Bodega’s backstory shows that he’s been involved in community activism for most of his adult life. His failed efforts to empower the community by legal means shows that city officials are corrupt and reluctant to help Spanish Harlem. Quiñonez implies, through Bodega’s voice, that when legal efforts at social improvement are blocked, activists are justified in turning to other means because they have no choice. The mantra “Que Pasa Power” is borrowed from a poem about the disenfranchisement of Latinx immigrants by Puerto Rican immigrant poet Pedro Pietri. It similarly argues that Puerto Rican immigrants are deeply oppressed and have no choice but to use whatever means necessary to empower themselves. The allusion to Pietri’s poetry also shows that Puerto Ricans have made a substantive contribution to U.S. culture, even though the white teachers at Julio’s elementary school taught the children to believe otherwise.
Themes
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