Previous
Book 1, Round 5
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
The next day, Julio’s is at work at the supermarket, pricing cans with a sticker gun. After work, before his evening class, Julio stops by the La Reyna bakery for a bite to eat. It’s a crowded, noisy hole in the wall with great Latin food. Inside, Julio spots Sapo, and they smooth things over. Julio isn’t sure if Bodega wants him to work with Nazario, or if he really just wants to contact Blanca’s aunt Vera. Sapo hushes Julio for talking about Bodega in public but confirms that Bodega is likely after both of those things. Sapo offers Julio a ride to Hunter, which Julio reluctantly accepts.
Julio has to work a (presumably minimum-wage) job at a supermarket while also pursuing college, which alludes to his disenfranchisement. The La Reyna bakery shows that Spanish Harlem is packed with positive examples of Latinx culture, once again contradicting the false belief among Julio and Sapo’s teachers that Latinx immigrants have nothing to offer U.S. society.
Themes
On the way, they pick up Nene and a live chicken in a box (a religious offering from Bodega for Doña Ramonita). Julio hopes he hasn’t missed his chance to be the connection Bodega needs to contact Vera. They arrive at Doña Ramonita’s store—a botanica with cheap religious statues that doubles up as a pawn shop. Doña Ramonita emerges wearing white robes and puts a leash on the chicken. She gives Sapo instructions for Bodega to follow by pouring jars of water on himself at sunrise.
A botanica is a store that sells religious goods, and it’s where people in the community go to access indigenous cultural traditions like the ritual involving the chicken. Once again, Quiñonez shows that Spanish Harlem is packed with interesting cultural phenomena—in contrast to what Latinx children in the neighborhood are taught at school.
Themes
Doña Ramonita says she’s foreseen that the woman Bodega is looking for will come from a hot climate. When they turn to leave, Julio tells Sapo he can reach Vera for Bodega, but he wants a two-bedroom apartment in exchange. Sapo swears angrily: he wishes Julio had told him that before he put a smelly chicken in his car.
Quiñonez’s comedic interlude involving the chicken exposes another reason why Sapo and Julio’s bond, as well as bonds within a community in general, are important. Such bonds enable people to joke around with one another, which brings a much-needed lightness to their tough day-to-day lives.
Themes
