Lori Lalama

Digital Image Acquisition

September 9, 2006

Bodega Dreams

Bodega Dreams is the reflection of the Puerto Rican community in Spanish Harlem. This book gives meaning to the first generation of Puerto Ricans who came here from the island to pursue their “American Dream” only to fall prey to unemployment, welfare or being taken advantage of by other immigrant groups. The author, Ernesto Quiñonez, wants the Puerto Rican people to identify themselves through their heritage and fully understand what it means to be Puerto Rican first and feel comfortable about that before trying to identify with the “American Dream.”

El Barrio, in Spanish Harlem, encompasses the story. It is full of conflicts, lies, coercion, deception and “easy money.” The word Bodega is actually a family deli in Spanish-speaking neighborhoods. You can find out important information about friends and family and what is happening, both good and bad too. However, here in the story it represents Spanish Harlem.

The characters themselves are part of an intricate web that brings their life stories to light. Willie Bodega is the central character of the story. He was part of the Young Lords, a rebellious group who tried to unite the people to have a better life, a visionary to seek better housing, jobs education, but by selling drugs and defrauding many people. He is sort of a modern Robin Hood for the poor. “Sapo” (or toad) is the drug runner and does what Bodega tells him. He is also Juan’s best friend since they were young. “Chino,” also know as Juan Mercado. He is married to Blanca, a Pentecostal young lady of high moral values and pregnant with Chino’s child. They both work low-paying jobs and they both attend Hunter College. Their lives are poor but honest, however Sapo talks him into seeing Bodega for a plot that will paint great possibilities but at the expense of family, moral beliefs and the results are not expected.

The end of the novel states the feeling of the author as well as the general feeling of the contemporary Puerto Ricans. “A new language means a new race. Spanglish is the future. It’s a new language being born out of the ashes of two cultures clashing with each other. You will use a new language. Words they might not teach you in that college. Words that aren’t English or Spanish, but at the same time are both. Now that’s where it’s at. Our people are evolving into something completely new.”