50 pages • 1 hour read
Ernesto QuiñonezBodega Dreams
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2000A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Character Analysis
William Irizarry / Willie Bodega
The title character of the book, Willie Bodega is a man who has reinvented himself once and wants to do so again. A childhood on the streets of Spanish Harlem leads him to the Young Lords, a political activist group that seeks to affect social change when the government is unwilling to do so. During his time with the Young Lords, the group grows increasingly violent and Bodega loses the affection of Veronica (later, Vera), who doesn’t believe that he will ever have the vision improve his situation. Later, he reinvents himself as Willie Bodega, a slumlord with a heart of gold. Although much of his money comes from drug sales and bookmaking, Bodega is trying to gain legitimacy through his company, the Harry Goldstein Real Estate Agency. He has figured out that the way to gain the loyalty and respect of el barrio—he simply has to do them favors. If someone needs a place to stay, Bodega will arrange it. If someone needs a break on rent, Bodega will provide that. And when someone (like the journalist Alberto Salazar, in the pockets of Bodega’s rival Aaron Fischman) crosses him, he’s not afraid to resort to murder. Bodega’s Achilles heel, however, is his great love for Vera. He’s thrilled to impress her with his wealth and influence, and is so blinded by love that he doesn’t see her for what she really is. Bodega’s idealism causes him to take his eye off the ball, and he becomes an easy target for Nazario to take down in his own quest for power. Unlike other leaders who have made big promises to el barrio and then turned their backs when they have achieved personal fame and fortune, Bodega honestly seemed to care about making the barrio a better place. In that way, Bodega’s dreams will live on past his death.
Enrique / Sapo
Sapo is always unapologetically himself. His name, deriving from his physical appearance, means “toad” in Spanish, but this unflattering description does not keep Sapo from getting anything he wants. A product of the streets, he rises to prominence by playing by the unwritten rules of the neighborhood, which include ruthlessness to anyone who has wronged him and fierce loyalty to his friends, like Chino and Bodega. When they are still in junior high, Chino imagines a live that might take him far from el barrio, but Sapo is horrified by the mere suggestion. His life is el barrio. Although he may not have fired the shot that killed Alberto Salazar, Sapo was at least present at his death, as evidenced by the bite mark on Salazar’s shoulder. At the end of the novel, with Bodega dead, Nazario imprisoned and Fischman blamed for Bodega’s murder, a slot of opportunity has opened, and Sapo is in the right place at the right time.
Julio / Chino
Chino is the novel’s narrator and protagonist, both savvy and naïve. He is divided between two loyalties—a friendship with Sapo that leads him to the underground world of criminal enterprise and his love for Blanca and desire for a life away from the poverty of el barrio. As a young teenager, he made a name for himself as someone who would fight anyone without backing down, but he also showed a sensitive and artistic streak by painting R.I.P.s, memorials to people who died in the neighborhood. His artistic talents and interest in academics separate him from many young men in the neighborhood, like Sapo. He works in a market during the day and attends Hunter College by night with hopes of improving himself and being able to provide for his family. Yet he often feels trapped by his situation, especially with a baby on the way, and this discontent attracts him to Bodega. Chino is motivated by his own sense of fairness and justice, which has different implications in el barrio. He doesn’t buy or sell drugs himself, but he delivers the occasional package for Sapo. He lies to the police when he’s brought in for questioning, mainly as a method of self-preservation. When he turns in Nazario at the end of the story, he’s doing so to protect himself, but also to get some justice for Bodega. Ultimately, Bodega made a huge impact on Chino’s outlook, as evidenced by the end of the story where he helps out two complete strangers by offering them a room in his home. Bodega’s dreams will resonate with Chino long into the future.
Nazario
Nazario, a lawyer and one half of Bodega’s criminal operation, knows both the streets where he came from and the nuances of the law. Although Bodega is essentially the invisible partner, calling shots from his apartments throughout the city, Nazario is the public face of the operation, worshipped by the people of el barrio. He has also made a name for himself outside the neighborhood as a person who can’t be pushed around and has courted loyalty in the neighborhood by dispensing Bodega’s favors. Nazario operates by a simple moral code—that it is necessary to do evil so good may result. These beliefs make it easier for him to take down Bodega, an act that will allow him to wield more power and influence. While he is privy to Bodega’s plans to win back Vera and never mentions his own relationship with her, Nazario shows the depth of his moral compromise.
Veronica / Vera
In many ways, Vera is the opposite of Bodega. While Bodega has a strong streak of altruism and a desire to truly better his community Vera turned her back on Spanish Harlem for decades. During her years in Miami, she was happy to be the wife of a wealthy man and to cultivate a new identity for herself that was far removed from Veronica from el barrio. When Chino meets Vera, he observes that she is now blonde and pale, with the manners of someone who attended the best schools. When she returns to the neighborhood, it is only because she is tired of her life in Miami. She pretends to be wowed by Bodega’s newfound wealth and influence, although all along she plans to use him to kill her husband and set the stage for the next phase of her life, a new reinvention of herself.
Spanish Harlem
Throughout Bodega Dreams, Spanish Harlem is presented as vibrantly as any human character, with a distinct personality and its own plans for the future. Although el barrio is situated on Manhattan, a small island with some of the world’s most expensive and coveted real estate, in many ways, el barrio is a lifetime removed from the fancy apartments and the wealth of the Upper East Side just to the south. Spanish Harlem is “a slum that has been handed down from immigrant to immigrant, like used clothing worn and reworn, stitched and restitched by different ethnic groups who continue to pass it on. A paradox of crime and kindness” (161).
When Chino visits Negra in her tenement apartment in the projects by the Metro North tracks, he reflects, “On the Upper East Side an apartment facing the East River would be priceless, but this is Spanish Harlem, where most rents are subsidized by Section Eight. Regardless, the panoramic scenes are the same from any neighborhood: red-orange sunrises, blue-black moonlit nights” (54). Chino says that the city looks better at night, “when everything broken and dirty is hidden by darkness and the moonlight makes everything else glow like pearls” (73). The neighborhood faces a number of issues connected to poverty, but there is also a vibrant culture there, rich in language and belief and custom. It isn’t a neighborhood that has been defeated, despite political policies developed to keep its residents in their places. At the end of the novel, Chino envisions the neighborhood as a maraca, “with the men and women transformed into seeds, shaking with love and desire for one another” (212). When Chino says the neighborhood is ready for a change, he’s seeing that one day it would “run faster, fly higher, stretch out its arms farther, and one day those dreams would carry its people to new beginnings” (213).
