Bodega Dreams

by

Ernesto Quiñones

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on Bodega Dreams makes teaching easy.
Sapo is Julio’s childhood best friend. Sapo is scrappy, happy-go-lucky, and fearless: he famously bites people while fighting them. Sapo has a lot of street credibility, and he protects Julio while they’re growing up in Spanish Harlem. Consequently, Julio is fiercely loyal to Sapo when they’re adults, no matter what sort of trouble Sapo gets himself into. Sapo often leans on Julio to help him out with favors like storing and delivering mysterious packages for him. This irks Julio’s wife, Blanca, who thinks that Sapo is bad news; this causes significant marital strife between Julio and Blanca. As a child, Sapo is disillusioned by teachers who assume he’s just going to end up delinquent. Sapo drops out of school in eighth grade after an altercation with a racist teacher named Mr. Blessington, preferring to take his chances in the petty crime circles of Spanish Harlem’s streets. Sapo starts dealing drugs and gets pulled into the criminal world of Bodega and Nazario, two ex-activists who are trying to change the neighborhood for the better, albeit by dubious means. For most of the story, Sapo is implicated in the murder of a journalist named Salazar who threatens Bodega and Nazario’s plans. In the end, Sapo gets out of the scrape unscathed, as usual. As the story draws to a close, it’s implied that Sapo may soon take control of the neighborhood’s criminal underworld in the wake of Bodega’s death.

Sapo Quotes in Bodega Dreams

The Bodega Dreams quotes below are all either spoken by Sapo or refer to Sapo. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Latinx Immigrants and Broken Dreams Theme Icon
).
Book 1, Round 1 Quotes

So, since we were almost convinced that our race had no culture, no smart people, we behaved even worse. It made us fight and throw books at one another, sell loose joints on the stairways, talk back to teachers, and leave classrooms whenever we wanted to.

Related Characters: Julio Mercado (speaker), Sapo
Page Number: 6
Explanation and Analysis:

My father understood where we were living. He knew, and when I would come home with bruises or a black eye he never lost his cool. I liked my father, and my father liked Sapo. He knew the importance of having someone there to watch your back. It was important to have a pana, a broqui.

Related Characters: Julio Mercado (speaker), Sapo
Related Symbols: Drugs
Page Number: I0
Explanation and Analysis:
Book 2, Round 1 Quotes

“[…] Mr. Blessington told me I was going to end up in jail, so why waste my time doing homework?”

Related Characters: Sapo (speaker), Julio Mercado, Mr. Blessington , Mr. Tapia
Page Number: 88
Explanation and Analysis:

Julia-day-Burgos is so obscure it would be hard to find a single poem of hers. In any language.

Related Characters: Mr. Blessington (speaker), Julio Mercado, Sapo, Nancy “Blanca” Saldivia, Julia de Burgos
Page Number: 88
Explanation and Analysis:
Book 2, Round 2 Quotes

If Sapo killed that reporter then he deserved to go to jail. I thought that, but I knew I didn’t mean it. I felt bad for Sapo. I also knew I would never rat out Sapo or Bodega. I wasn’t going to say a word.

Related Characters: Julio Mercado (speaker), Willie Bodega , Sapo, Alberto Salazar
Related Symbols: Drugs
Page Number: 97
Explanation and Analysis:
Book 2, Round 5 Quotes

“Blanca, why does me becoming Pentecostal have any bearing on you getting your privileges back? On you playing the tambourine in front of the congregation? Why do they look at me and my faults and not you and your merits?”

Related Characters: Julio Mercado (speaker), Willie Bodega , Sapo, Nancy “Blanca” Saldivia
Page Number: 131
Explanation and Analysis:
Book 2, Round 8 Quotes

That night Sapo dropped me off at one of the new-old buildings Bodega had renovated on 116th and Lexington. Those buildings had been condemned for years. The City of New York takes so much time to either renovate or bulldoze a condemned building it’s like those guys on Death Row who die of old age rather than execution. Bodega had bought the entire row from the city and had slowly renovated three of them. He had improved the block. Improved the neighborhood. Given people a place to live.

Related Characters: Julio Mercado (speaker), Willie Bodega , Sapo, Edwin Nazario
Page Number: 167
Explanation and Analysis:
Book 2, Round 9 Quotes

The captain talked as if he were bored; it was all a formality, something he had done too many times and could do in his sleep.

Related Characters: Julio Mercado (speaker), Sapo, Alberto Salazar , DeJesus , Ortiz , Captain Leary
Page Number: 178
Explanation and Analysis:
Book 2, Round 10 Quotes

“Let’s not say anything right now, okay? I’m going to be staying at Mami’s for a while. At least until the baby is born. I think that's best. Best for both of us.”

Related Characters: Nancy “Blanca” Saldivia (speaker), Julio Mercado, Sapo, Blanca’s mother
Page Number: 180
Explanation and Analysis:

I would never have guessed he was Latin. He was more American than Mickey Mouse and just as old.

Related Characters: Julio Mercado (speaker), Willie Bodega , Sapo, Veronica “Vera” Vidal , John Vidal (Vera’s husband)
Page Number: 180
Explanation and Analysis:
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Sapo Quotes in Bodega Dreams

The Bodega Dreams quotes below are all either spoken by Sapo or refer to Sapo. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Latinx Immigrants and Broken Dreams Theme Icon
).
Book 1, Round 1 Quotes

So, since we were almost convinced that our race had no culture, no smart people, we behaved even worse. It made us fight and throw books at one another, sell loose joints on the stairways, talk back to teachers, and leave classrooms whenever we wanted to.

Related Characters: Julio Mercado (speaker), Sapo
Page Number: 6
Explanation and Analysis:

My father understood where we were living. He knew, and when I would come home with bruises or a black eye he never lost his cool. I liked my father, and my father liked Sapo. He knew the importance of having someone there to watch your back. It was important to have a pana, a broqui.

Related Characters: Julio Mercado (speaker), Sapo
Related Symbols: Drugs
Page Number: I0
Explanation and Analysis:
Book 2, Round 1 Quotes

“[…] Mr. Blessington told me I was going to end up in jail, so why waste my time doing homework?”

Related Characters: Sapo (speaker), Julio Mercado, Mr. Blessington , Mr. Tapia
Page Number: 88
Explanation and Analysis:

Julia-day-Burgos is so obscure it would be hard to find a single poem of hers. In any language.

Related Characters: Mr. Blessington (speaker), Julio Mercado, Sapo, Nancy “Blanca” Saldivia, Julia de Burgos
Page Number: 88
Explanation and Analysis:
Book 2, Round 2 Quotes

If Sapo killed that reporter then he deserved to go to jail. I thought that, but I knew I didn’t mean it. I felt bad for Sapo. I also knew I would never rat out Sapo or Bodega. I wasn’t going to say a word.

Related Characters: Julio Mercado (speaker), Willie Bodega , Sapo, Alberto Salazar
Related Symbols: Drugs
Page Number: 97
Explanation and Analysis:
Book 2, Round 5 Quotes

“Blanca, why does me becoming Pentecostal have any bearing on you getting your privileges back? On you playing the tambourine in front of the congregation? Why do they look at me and my faults and not you and your merits?”

Related Characters: Julio Mercado (speaker), Willie Bodega , Sapo, Nancy “Blanca” Saldivia
Page Number: 131
Explanation and Analysis:
Book 2, Round 8 Quotes

That night Sapo dropped me off at one of the new-old buildings Bodega had renovated on 116th and Lexington. Those buildings had been condemned for years. The City of New York takes so much time to either renovate or bulldoze a condemned building it’s like those guys on Death Row who die of old age rather than execution. Bodega had bought the entire row from the city and had slowly renovated three of them. He had improved the block. Improved the neighborhood. Given people a place to live.

Related Characters: Julio Mercado (speaker), Willie Bodega , Sapo, Edwin Nazario
Page Number: 167
Explanation and Analysis:
Book 2, Round 9 Quotes

The captain talked as if he were bored; it was all a formality, something he had done too many times and could do in his sleep.

Related Characters: Julio Mercado (speaker), Sapo, Alberto Salazar , DeJesus , Ortiz , Captain Leary
Page Number: 178
Explanation and Analysis:
Book 2, Round 10 Quotes

“Let’s not say anything right now, okay? I’m going to be staying at Mami’s for a while. At least until the baby is born. I think that's best. Best for both of us.”

Related Characters: Nancy “Blanca” Saldivia (speaker), Julio Mercado, Sapo, Blanca’s mother
Page Number: 180
Explanation and Analysis:

I would never have guessed he was Latin. He was more American than Mickey Mouse and just as old.

Related Characters: Julio Mercado (speaker), Willie Bodega , Sapo, Veronica “Vera” Vidal , John Vidal (Vera’s husband)
Page Number: 180
Explanation and Analysis: