Bodega Dreams

by

Ernesto Quiñones

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Drugs Symbol Icon

Various characters’ dealings with illicit drugs symbolize the ways in which Spanish Harlem’s residents are systemically oppressed and effectively forced to break the law. Julio’s best friend, Sapo, drops out of middle school and starts dealing drugs after he’s provoked into a fight with a racist teacher. Years later, selling drugs is seemingly Sapo’s only option to earn a sufficient living. After all, Julio is a high school graduate and college student, yet he still struggles to make ends meet with his low-paying job at a grocery store. Sapo’s life of crime thus represents the general lack of opportunity and economic desperation that young Latinx people face as the education system consistently overlooks or antagonizes them. Sapo even ropes Julio into his dealings, occasionally asking him to look after or deliver packages that almost certainly contain drugs. Julio’s reluctant yet steadfast support of Sapo in this way reflects the unfortunate reality that people in Spanish Harlem are often forced to choose between abiding by the law or remaining loyal to one’s friends.

Further, when City Halls refuses to aid antihero Willie Bodega in helping allocate more resources to the neighborhood, Bodega is forced to resort to running heroin (among other criminal endeavors) in order to fund his charitable work. Again, an otherwise staunchly moral and altruistic man resorting to drug-dealing symbolizes the ways in which the system neglects and marginalizes entire Latinx communities. Good people like Bodega are more or less forced to turn to lives of crime if they want to bring about lasting change. In this way, the drugs that circulate in Spanish Harlem aren’t solely an indicator of crime and degeneracy—they’re a marker of people desperately trying to better themselves and their fellow residents in the only way they can.

Drugs Quotes in Bodega Dreams

The Bodega Dreams quotes below all refer to the symbol of Drugs. 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

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 1, Round 3 Quotes

“The next day we went to City Hall and filed our demands. And you know what happened the next month, Chino? […] The next month, they hiked the subway fare from twenty-five cents to thirty-five cents. […] So we waited, and we waited, and we filed and we filed. Finally, when we knew our demands weren't going to be met, when we knew […] the sanitation department wouldn't even lend us brooms to clean our streets, we had no choice but to take over the streets of East Harlem.”

Related Characters: Willie Bodega (speaker), Julio Mercado
Related Symbols: Drugs
Page Number: 32-33
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:
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Drugs Symbol Timeline in Bodega Dreams

The timeline below shows where the symbol Drugs appears in Bodega Dreams. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Book 1, Round 1: Spanish for “Toad”
Loyalty, Solidarity, and Community Theme Icon
Julio loves the adventures he has with Sapo—like smoking marijuana, making bets, and flying kites with razor blades attached to cut down other kites—even though... (full context)
Book 1, Round 2: Willie Bodega
Crime, Wealth and Activism Theme Icon
Loyalty, Solidarity, and Community Theme Icon
...up at night asking Julio to look after package, which drives Blanca crazy—she knows it’s drugs. Blanca doesn’t respect Sapo because he hasn’t tried to better himself or get out of... (full context)
Book 1, Round 3: Willie Bodega Don’t Sell Rocks. Willie Bodega Sells Dreams.
Latinx Immigrants and Broken Dreams Theme Icon
Crime, Wealth and Activism Theme Icon
...people who ramble. He’s about to leave, but Bodega pulls out a giant bag of marijuana. (full context)
Latinx Immigrants and Broken Dreams Theme Icon
Crime, Wealth and Activism Theme Icon
Loyalty, Solidarity, and Community Theme Icon
The guys smoke and share crude banter about the women in a Playboy magazine. Bodega wants Julio to... (full context)
Latinx Immigrants and Broken Dreams Theme Icon
Crime, Wealth and Activism Theme Icon
...guns and smuggling resources through a local church. Even the old ladies helped. Bodega hustled heroin until he met Nazario and left the Young Lords. As Bodega is talking, Sapo gets... (full context)
Book 1, Round 4: The Fire This Time
Crime, Wealth and Activism Theme Icon
Religion, Sexism, and Poverty Theme Icon
Bodega realizes Julio has smoked too much, and Sapo cracks a joke about how Julio isn’t allowed to smoke at... (full context)
Book 1, Round 5: We Needed More Space
Latinx Immigrants and Broken Dreams Theme Icon
Loyalty, Solidarity, and Community Theme Icon
...and finds her sexy in her pregnancy, but she tells him that he smells like marijuana. (full context)
Book 1, Round 7: For Being a Cabrón
Latinx Immigrants and Broken Dreams Theme Icon
Crime, Wealth and Activism Theme Icon
...total opposites: while Blanca was drawn to the church as an adolescent, Negra was smoking weed and sneaking out of the house. Negra also knows everything that’s going on in the... (full context)
Book 1, Round 9: Knockout: Underground Economy
Latinx Immigrants and Broken Dreams Theme Icon
...willing to marry a Columbian girl who needs a green card. Sapo suggests a neighborhood junkie, but Julio thinks that’s a terrible idea. Sapo suggests asking Nazario, but Julio doesn’t want... (full context)
Book 2, Round 1: My Growing Up and All that Piri Thomas Kinda Crap
Loyalty, Solidarity, and Community Theme Icon
...Blanca asks Julio if Sapo killed Salazar. Blanca thinks it’s strange that there are no drug dealers around their block, and she worries that Julio knows something she doesn’t. Julio lies... (full context)
Book 2, Round 2: Everyone’s a Thief
Loyalty, Solidarity, and Community Theme Icon
...Latin woman’s kitchen.” Julio explains that after the Young Lords broke up. Bodega turned to drug-dealing and got busted selling marijuana on the street. Nazario represented Bodega and got him off... (full context)
Book 2, Round 7: Watering his Peach Tree
Crime, Wealth and Activism Theme Icon
...Italian section of East Harlem. Mr. Cavalleri thinks that Bodega is a strange man—he sells drugs yet runs community rehab centers from the same buildings. The atmosphere is a little tense,... (full context)
Book 2, Round 9: I Liked the Way You Stood Up for Us
Latinx Immigrants and Broken Dreams Theme Icon
Religion, Sexism, and Poverty Theme Icon
Loyalty, Solidarity, and Community Theme Icon
...Bodega. Pastor Vasquez launches into a lecture about the Bible saving him from crime and drugs, and Julio feels annoyed. Suddenly, the doorbell rings: two detectives named DeJesus and Ortiz want... (full context)