1. "Where the city sees burned buildings I see opportunity" (37).
Bodega speaks these words as he tries to convince Chino to help with his business. This quote shortly explains Willie Bodega's dream and vision to establish hope in his people and in their community. Although his ways of acquiring wealth is unlawful, he uses the money to renovate the old buildings to house the needed people, to educate the them, and ultimately to improve the Spanish Harlem. Since the young age, Bodega participated in many community services as the Young Lords providing free breakfasts, free lunches, health care, and etc. for the Spanish Harlem. This shows Bodega's sincerity in his vision to better the representation of Latinos and mostly the community. It also supports the quote in emphasizing the newly renovated apartments' symbolization of hope for a better Spanish Harlem.
2. "We stopped...in front of what looked like a bodega. It wasn't. Inside that small space were framed gold records and instruments hanging from the walls and the ceiling. It was jam-packed with salsa memorabilia. It was a symbol of past glory" (105).
This passage is a description of a salsa museum that Nazario introduces to Chino. This small place is easy to be recognized as an ordinary bodega from outside just like what Julio thought of the place at first. But Inside this store was something very extraordinary, especially to the Latinos; the place was full of instruments that represent Latino tradition, culture, and pride in their nationality. This characteristic of the salsa museum applies to the person Bodega also. He may have the name Bodega and appear to be a druglord that is not very influential to the community, but in truth, Bodega was the one with all the dreams and visions of improvement in the Spanish Harlem for the sake of pride in the culture and the people of his home country.
3. "I could have married Blanca right then and there. Instead we enrolled at Hunter College, because we knew we needed school if we were ever going to change ourselves" (13).
Chino narrates this line as he introduces him and Blanca's plan for the future. This quote gives the reader the idea of the couple's strong desire to live no more like they are now, taking night classes and with no real job that they barely have enough to pay for their rent, when they graduate college. The American dreams, the motif of the novel, takes a great part in their thinking. With a baby to be expected, the couple believes they need to graduate, earn a degree to get a real job, and save to be prepared to support a bigger family. This continuous pursue of the dreams influence Chino in his decisions in the novel.
4. "I placed fourteen familites in the buildin', cheap rent, too...[that] means fourteen familites that would riot for Bodega. Fourteen families that would take a bullet for Bodega" (29).
This is another statement of Bodega that is used to convince Chino in the beginning of the novel. But this the quote relates to the theme of loyalty in the novel. Bodega expects loyalty from his tenants in return of his help. He stays unknown to the public but he makes sure that his companions - Nazario, Sapo, and Nene - let the community know that all their needs are satisfied by a man named Willie Bodega. This allows Bodega to be honored and praised by the community and build up the invisible bondage between the tenants and himself. Similar ideas are presented throughout the novel but ironically Bodega's loyalty to Nazario is betryaed in the end. Bodega shows respect to Nazario when he says, "Not my Nazario. He's my brothuh, we share the same vision"(24), to describe Nazario to Chino. However, Bodega's yearning for his love results in the loss of his love, life, and betrayal of his companion. The community, in order to cure this dreadful loss of Bodega, comes together showing their loyalty at the funeral and also on the walls of the buildings with his paintings to remember his deed.
5. "You and me have nothing in common...I'm Cuban, you're Puerto Rican" (177).
These words of the detective DeJesus capture the theme of race mentioned in the novel. His approach in interacting with people of certain nationalities seems to be common in the community. The discussion of races rose many times in the conversations between Sapo and Chino and also in conversations about the marriage of Blanca's aunt Vera. This differentiation among the races can be the cause of conflict among the gangs and between the Latinos and the Italians of the community making the situation even more intense. When Bodega reappears in Chino's dream, he leaves the words, "A new language means a new race. Spanglish is the future. It's a new language beinb born out of the ashes of two cultures clashing with each other" (212). Bodega emphasizes more on the issue of race in the novel by mentioning a new type of language, Spanglish, to indicate that race can also be based on language not only color.
