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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
Julio arrives at his apartment to find Bodega waiting for him. Bodega’s immaculately dressed in a white silk suit, pacing nervously and worrying about every last detail. Julio wants to ask about Salazar but he decides to wait and see how Bodega’s encounter with Vera goes first. Julio puts on a suit while Bodega stares dreamily out the window, and they walk out. Nobody notices Bodega on the street the way they noticed Nazario. One man even asks Julio to pass on a message for Bodega through Nazario, not knowing that Bodega is standing right there. Bodega, noticing Julio’s confusion, says that anonymity makes him more powerful.
Quiñonez uses Bodega’s almost comical nervousness to show a non-machismo version of a man in love. Bodega is vulnerable, distracted, and a bit lost—and he’s very concerned about his appearance. This undermines the general depiction of men as godly and powerful and women as vulnerable and lost within the Latinx immigrant community.
Themes
As Julio and Bodega approach the reunion, Bodega panics and tries to turn around. Julio calms Bodega and strokes his ego until Bodega feels confident enough to go in. As they walk in, Bodega is immediately mesmerized by Vera as he gazes at her intensely from afar. Suddenly, Nazario enters. Julio realizes in that moment that Bodega and Nazario must have secretly donated to the school to set this whole reunion up. Julio wonders why they need him at all, until he remembers that “blood is thicker than water.” Julio feels like he’s been used, and he doesn’t like it. He wants to walk out and tell Blanca everything, but he hesitates—she’ll want to move out of the apartment if she knows the truth.
It's clear that Bodega and Nazario could have orchestrated a meeting with Vera without Julio’s help, yet they still want him involved because he’s related to Vera through his marriage to Blanca. The idea that “blood is thicker than water” (that relatives take care of one another) highlights that this community puts a lot of stock in familial loyalty. Once again, Julio feels compelled to confide in his wife but feels like her deeply religious moral rigidity gets in the way of them connecting honestly and openly with each other.
Themes
Julio wants to leave, but he agrees to stay if Bodega levels with him. Bodega explains that Salazar was going to expose Bodega for buying property with “dirty money” so that a mobster named Aaron Fischman, known as the Fish of Loisaida, could take over Spanish Harlem. Bodega also explains that Sapo is in hiding and Nazario is working on clearing Sapo’s charges. Bodega gives Julio his word that Sapo won’t go to prison. Julio knows he should cut and run at this point, but he realizes he’s rooting for Bodega. All Julio has to do is tell Vera that he’s married to her niece Nancy (Blanca), and that their landlord, William Irazarry (Izzy, to her), is waiting for her in a very expensive car outside.
Julio (and, by extension, the reader) has to weigh up how much criminal activity is justifiable when pursuing noble causes like the empowerment of a community. Now that it’s clear that murder is involved, Julio is less confident that Nazario and Bodega are doing the right thing. Yet despite Sapo’s obvious involvement in the crime, Julio remains unflinchingly loyal to Sapo. Julio is determined to protect Sapo, even when it comes to matters as serious as murder.
Themes
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