The barrio refers to the Puerto Rican community in North Philadelphia from which Yaz and Elliot both originated. Whenever Yaz and Elliot refer to the barrio, it carries the connotation of drugs, crime, violence, and hardship, but also of Puerto Rican ethnic pride and heritage.
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Barrio Term Timeline in Water by the Spoonful
The timeline below shows where the term Barrio appears in Water by the Spoonful. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Scene Five
...would tell her that every time she came back from visiting her family in the barrio, she seemed different. In contrast, “his family has Quaker Oats for DNA. They play Pictionary...
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Scene Fifteen
...she sold her Steinway piano and bought the house herself. She’s moving back to the barrio, renovating Ginny’s house, and she wants Elliot to live there with her.
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...and leave him with the bad one. Elliot feels like he needs to escape the barrio before he turns into the same thing as Odessa and all the rest. Yaz tells...
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