“That’s what it was always about. Shedding your past. Creating yourself from nothing, Now I realize that that’s what attracted me to Willie Bodega. Willie Bodega didn’t just change me and Blanca’s life, but the entire landscape of the neighborhood.
Bodega would go down as a representation of all the ugliness in Spanish Harlem and also all the good it was capable of being. Bodega placed a mirror in front of the neighborhood and in front of himself. He was street nobility incarnated in someone who still believed in dreams.And for a small while, those dreams seem as palpable as that dagger Macbeth tried to grab. From his younger days as a Young Lord to his later days as Bodega, his life had been triggered by romantic ideal found only in those poor bastards who really wanted to be poets but got grafted and sent to the front lines. During that time Bodega would create a green light of hope.
And when that short-lived light went supernova, it would leave a blueprint of achievement and desire for anyone in the neighborhood searching for new possibilities.In the quote from Bodega Dreams by Ernesto Quinonez, what he means with his quote was that the people from the neighborhood can start a new life when it comes to Willie Bodega. Though the whole drug selling thing is look down upon society, Bodega is making the community better. He uses the law to make sure that his Puerto Rican Neighbors are having a good life. He is a bad and good man because he breaks the law to make life for people easier, he sells drugs to buy property to let poor people live there for a very cheap rent.Overall, in the novel, Ernesto Quinonez’s use of imagery, character analysis and metaphors/similes puts you right in the middle of the story.
You are wrapped around everything that is going on in the lives of the dwellers of El Barrio. You get a taste of their culture, personality, and their daily struggles and achievements. As they go on with their lives you are right their along side with them. Willie Bodega does the things he does because it's the only way he can gain money. He believe that it serves a much greater good than just selling drugs alone.He believes that's the only price to pay for his success is selling drugs.
He uses drugs for a much bigger cause where the good will outweigh the bad. Basically, he'll do anything if it benefits his people more than give other grief. He is trying to build an empire of his own. He wants to renew Spanish Harlem and call it his own by doing things for the people of his community.
He gets more support from his people for fulfilling their needs. He would also try to gain Vera's love. He would show this vision to her for all those years where she thought he didn't have one. "….. ust remember, bro, that no matter how much you learn, no matter how many books your read, how many degrees you get, in the end, you are from East Harlem.
" (page 36)Bodega is loved by neighborhood, enjoys helping people, asks for loyalty in return, used to be in "Young Lords", runs neighborhood, and has his name spread throughout neighborhood. Talking to Chino and Sapo, Bodega says, "Joe Kennedy was no different from me. He already had enough money in the twenties but he became a rumrunner. Alcohol is a drug, right? Kennedy sold enough booze to kill a herd of rhinos. (page 25) What he means by this quote, was that even people you think are good can still be doing bad things.
Bodega wanted the best for the people in his neighborhood, especially the homeless or the poorer side of the middle class. He was explaining to Chino that he wanted to own property in Spanish Harlem legally not illegally. "Don't mara if what I'm after is the toilet seat. Wha' maras is where the toilet seat is located. " (page 37) I think that since Bodega was once in the Young Lords, he felt like he had no other choice but to make money out of selling drugs.
Your'e right though. He could've gone to rehab and gotten a job. But he didn't. I think that all the depression that Bodega upon himself with Vera and the drug dealing business is what made him think that he had no other choice but to make a living out of selling drugs.
It's called "Bodega Dreams" because it's Willie Bodega's dream to fix up the neighborhood. I think that the book is also called "Bodega Dreams" because although it shows all the problems that Chino, the narrator, goes through, most of it revolves around Bodega's dream to fix up the neighborhood.Bodega Dreams actually made me think more about life and how the world is today. I mean how others struggle to go to school and support there family, how should you respect your friend and always have there back, and always loving a person for who they are not for money or something else.
Most important of all, it is always to follow what your heart tells you and follow your dreams in life. It makes you think that money isn’t "EVERYTHING" and love is. When you marry someone it means something and your ring has a meaning. It’s not just a ring. It means love, honestly, dreams, hope, respect, and so many beautiful meanings.
