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Book 2, 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 fire has been put out, and Julio and Blanca are in their apartment, trying to salvage what’s left of their stuff. Blanca’s church community chips in to help. Luckily, Julio spots Vera’s ring and pockets it, as well as the envelope he’s been hiding for Sapo. Nazario gathers the tenants and gives an inspiring speech about “Latin pride, a sense of community, and trust.” Nazario recalls fires on Puerto Rico, where the most important help comes from neighbors rather than the government. He jokes about how Latino people are so tough that even his cat was tough, and he promises that Bodega will shelter them again, as he did before—within a month.
Despite denigrating Blanca’s church community, Julio admires their solidarity toward one another, seeing it as a strong redeeming quality. Similarly, Nazario emphasizes why a strong sense of solidarity is important among the disenfranchised Latinx community more generally. Since they have few public resources available to them, they need to rely on one another. Nazario suggests that Puerto Rico (a U.S. territory) also lacks government support, meaning that the U.S. government treats Puerto Rico as poorly as local politicians treat Spanish Harlem.
Themes
Nazario, pretending not to know Julio, promises that Bodega will shelter pregnant women like Blanca first, starting tomorrow. Blanca doesn’t buy the emotional charade, and she knows something’s up as Nazario circulates through the crowd. By the time Julio and Nazario get a chance to speak alone, Julio is out for blood—Fischman could have killed Blanca. Nazario wants Julio to come to Queens with him tomorrow, but he won’t say more. Julio nods. He knows that the media and the fire department won’t care much about the fire, but he worries about the trouble that Fischman will cause for Bodega (who’s currently off somewhere with Vera.
Blanca’s sharp emotional intelligence shines once more (she intuitively knows that Nazario is not telling the whole truth). She thus embodies a stark contrast with Vega’s depiction of women as clueless in his sermon. Meanwhile, Julio reveals more about the oppression his community faces: local law enforcers tend to ignore the neighborhood. Additionally, and the media only reports events involving violence, thereby reinforcing the stereotype that the Latinx community is violent.
Themes
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