By now I am sure the parallels to The Great Gatsby have become quite evident. And if not, well you should really reread Gatsby and maybe even this novel before the big test!!
Please give an example from the last half of the novel of a parallel or connection to Gatsby that you have found, explain it, highlight how the novel puts its own twist on it, like you did 1/2 way through.
In addition to your example, respond to this question: Did Quinonez rip off Fitzgerald? Consider if there is enough difference to credit Quinonez with an original idea. Also, is it possible that this is just another example of how all literature represents writers ripping off other writers, but throwing some new ideas into the mix? Or is that what writing is: borrowing ideas and putting a new twist on them?
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The parallel that I am going to make from the second half of the novel deals with the ending. Both Bodega and and Gatsby were very rich and vain. They believed that their wealth had created them a legacy and that people would continue to marvel about them after they died. The similarities deal with their beliefs of rememberance and the reality. The reality was that once you died you were forgotten. In Gatsby's case his own supposed friends did not show up to his funeral. "That day when I first met Bodega he had said, "Should something happen to me, people will take to the streets." But it never happened. When he was killed, no cars were overturned, no fires were set. No cops were conked. Nothing (Quinonez Eulogy). This shows that both characters followers were not quite as large as they believed and that was due to their vainity.
Quinonez did not rip off Fitzgerald due to the fact that he took a twist on the original novel by adding the Spanish culture. That cultural change ended up adding a whole new outlook. In the end there is not enough of a difference to credit Quinonez with the original idea due to the similar story line. The plot of both storiesinvolve a poor man losing out in a woman and then building up assets so that they could won the lady back. Then they would use a middle man such as Nick and Chino to organize the initial meeting. The endings both ended with the men being forgotten by those they had helpped. These similarities show that Quinonez can't be credited with the original idea. I believe that these two stories involve the borrowing of ideas and adding a new twist due to the fact that they are so similar, but have different ideas due yo Quinonez adding a Spanish flair.
Mike Aisenberg
A major similarity between both novels is the love that drives Gatsby and Bodega. Both are trying to go back in time and get the girl they did not get the first time. Gatsby has extravagent parties, while Bodega re-builds a neighborhood. The twist that Quinonez gives is that Vera never loved Bodega at all, and she was only using him to get to Nazario.
I think that Bodega Dreams is different enough to be called an original idea. Quinonez writes a different point of view on the quest of the american dream, and instead of the "white" american dream with a picket fence we see a latin american street version.
To some extent I think that re-writing someone else's idea can be harder. Anyone can mumble on about anything, but taking someone else's idea and making it unique your own is sometimes challening. Of course it would not be cool if writters did this all the time, but I did enjoy seeing the similarities and the difference of the two novels.
A parallel from the second half of the novel between the two stories is the fact that Vera never loved John Vidal and Daisy never loved Tom; however, Vera and Daisy both got married to men with solid social positions and who had the approval of their parents. In reality, they never loved their husbands, and both came back to their former loves. Bodega states, “Your wife, she never loved you. She always loved me” (188). This is a very similar statement said by Gatsby on page 130 when he says “Your wife doesn’t love you, she’s never loved you. She loves me.” In Bodega Dreams Quinonez puts on a twist on this parallel because in reality Vera did not come back for Bodega, rather she comes back for Nazario.
I do not think Quinonez ripped off Fitzgerald. There are several parallels in both stories but I think Quinonez put enough of a twist on the plot to create his own unique story. I don’t think this is an example how all literature is a rip off from other work. I think Quinonez saw the success of The Great Gatsby, and decided to write a similar book, but added his own twist to it to make it his own unique story. Writing should not be about borrowing ideas and putting a new twist on them, but it seems that as time goes on it gets harder and harder to come up with a unique idea. It seems almost easier to use an idea that has already been successful, and then just twist it a little bit and call it a new story.
-Matt F
The parallel i noticed is similar to Matt's. Bodega wanted Vera to tell her husband she never loved him, as Gatsby wanted Daisy to tell Tom she never loved him. When Vera says, "William...I'm leaving him, isn't that enough?" Bodega responds by saying, "Yes, but tell him you never loved him" (189). However, Vera is unable to officially say it, just as Daisy could not. Bodega dreams twists it by having Vera shoot her husband. In the Great Gatsby, Tom was not killed; he was the one who caused Gatsby to be killed.
Quinonez did not really "rip off" Fitzgerald. There are obvious differences throughout the novel, such as the setting and the characters. Though the plots are similar, Quinonez twists Bodega Dreams enough so that they are not the same. While i was reading, the only part where i could see it being conssidered "ripped off" was the one i mentioned above; how Gatsby wants Daisy to tell Tom she never loved him, just as Bodega asks Vera to tell her husband the same. I think a lot of writing involves borrowing ideas and twisting them, whether the ideas are from another novel or not. There is almost no way to write a novel without using SOME ideas you didn't think of yourself. Though many novels are fiction, they often use ideas from real events that took place. No novel can be completely credited to the author alone.
-Alex Cammarata
I noticed several parallels in the way in which both Gatsby and Bodega died. To state the obvious: both were murdered, both were shot, and the narrator was not present to witness the killing. Less obvious is the fact that neither Gatsby nor Bodega is aware of their impending death. In addition, both men are slain as the result of a conspiracy against them. Wilson's irrational behavior after the hit-and-run proves that he was obsessed with his revenge, while Bodega's death was part of Nazario's plot with Vera(209). Gatsby and Bodega are also killed by a character that the reader, throughout most of the novel, might not suspect.
With the sheer number of comparisons that can and have been made between Bodega Dreams and The Great Gatsby, it seems apparent that Quinonez did in fact use many of Fitzgerald's ideas. However, this does not mean that Quinonez completely ripped him off. There are several twists in Bodega Dreams which are not present in Gatsby which make it different enough to be considered a unique work. For example: Sapo does not equate well with any single character in The Great Gatsby, and the ending portions of each novel (the funeral, the arrests, etc.) are quite different from one another. Overall, I would say that Bodega Dreams is Quinonez's own unique interpretation of the basic themes of The Great Gatsby.
-William Frankian
"The next day, Bodega was dead."
(193)
The parallel that i found from Bodega Dreams to The Great Gatsby was teh the murder of Bodega. Bodega was the representation fo Gatsby in Bodega Dreams. Both of their murders where the result of their pressumed involvment in a previous murder and both were done by people who had seemed up to that point in their novel harmless.
I do believe that Quinonez ripped off Fitzgerald. The basic plot and theme's of the novels are almost exactly the same. THe parallels between the two novels is obvious. Bodega and Gatsby, Chino and Nick, Vera and Daisy. The murder of Bodega and Gatsy after the murder of Mrs. Wilson and Vidal. The story are almost identiacal in their entirety and i believe that Quinonez ripped off Fitzgerald.
I do not believe that all literrature is on authro ripping off others aor putting a new twist on it. Quinonez di in this case but there are new ideas coming out always. If you just look at the variety and diversity of all the novels, and movie and song that are out there. All are forms of literature and great diversity and differences between all those pieces of literature reallt support that there can always be new ideas in literature and they don't have to be a knick off of a previous piece of literature
-Ross A
There are many parallels between the two novels. Perhaps the most obvious are the Daisy/Vera situations. Both protagonists are in love with a married women and they are willing to do a lot to get her back. They also both have conflicts with the husbands. The two men are also tied up with illegal dealings.
Some of the more obvious differences include how Bodega did things for others which makes Chino like him more than Nick liked the selfish Gatsby. The other obvious difference that came with the ending was that Bodega was remembered, maybe not as well as he was hoping but he people were grateful for what he did and his memory hold honor while Gatsby's funeral attendance was very scarce.
Jackie Cole
The major connection that I found by the end of the book is the power of love. Both Daisy and Vera are murderers and both Bodega and Gatsby are prepared to take the blame for the murders. Unfortunately neither Daisy nor Vera is as willing to make sacrifices for the men that love them as these men are willing to make sacrifices for them. This is the unfortunate demise of both Gatsby and Bodega. The twist in Bodega Dreams is that Nazario killed Bodega which contributes to making Bodega Dreams and the Great Gatsby different.
After finishing the novel, I would not say that Quinonez ripped off Fitzgerald. There clearly are many parallels between the bookds but the setting and characters of Bodega Dreams add another dimension to the story of Gatsby, Nick and Daisy. There are many twists in Bodega Dreams, and Quinonez has enough differences in his novel to prove that he didn’t rip off Fitzgerald. One difference that I think stands out is that whereas Gatsby and Bodega’s struggles are extremely similar, both narrators have two different struggles. Chino’s main struggle seems to be understanding the balance of his marriage and his involvement with Bodega. On the other hand, Nick is finding his way in society and is not preoccupied with love nearly as much as Chino. Nick seems to be more aware of Gatsby’s struggles and loneliness than he is of his own. For this reason, I think Chino and Nick are completely different.
-mk reynolds
Stephanie Alkhatib
One parallel in the second half of Bodega Dreams is the situation with Bodega and Vera, and the one with Gatsby and Daisy in The Great Gatsby. (Note that Bodega and Gatsby are rarely recognized by people, simply known to exist.) In both, the man continued to urge the woman to tell the woman's current husband that she never loved him. Also, both of these men (Bodega and Gatsby) were killed. the twist that Bodega Dreams put on it, however, was that Vera did not really love Bodega, she loved Nazario. Also at Bodega's funeral, many people showed up because Bodega had done things for them. At Gatsby's funeral, nobody showed up, because he had not done anything for society.
No, i don't think that Quinonez ripped off Fitzgerald. Although the books did have some apparent parallels, one can see that the two writers have very different styles as well (like, how Quinonez makes his book waaaaaay more interesting). I think part of writing must use other writers' main ideas, themes, styles, motifs, etc. So therefore i believe that writing is borrowing other ideas and putting a new twist on them, some to different extents than others. i think that Quinonez took some of Fitz's ideas and worked them into his own plot.
One parallel between the Great Gatsby and Bodega Dreams are the similarities between Daisy and Vera. Both women were coveted by the main character before marrying another man for his money. In both books the man demands that his wife tell her husband that she had never loved. The women also greatly cloud their lovers judgment. This is most obvious when Vera kills her husband. Bodega immediately agrees to take the blame for the crime and begins taking measures to cover up the crime. Gatsby did the same thing after Daisy's hit in run. In the end of both books it became obvious that the woman had a horrible effect on the man.
I think that Quinonez definitely did rip off Fitzgerald. I do not think that he was right in doing this, but he still created his own interesting storyline. A story that was only about Willie Bodega's dream to rebuild the barrio would have been compelling on its own. He even could have used the idea of the main character searching for his long lost love. It was unnecessary to copy some plot points so exactly. An author that was able to sucessfully but a new twist on another writers idea was Arthur Miller. "Death of a Salesman" borrowed some ideas from the short story "Death of a Traveling Salesman," but he created a completely new plot and borrowed only one character. That is a more acceptable practice for an author.
One parallel I noted between The Great Gatsby & Bodega Dreams was their views on their wealth/status. Gatsby & Bodega both believed they had reached a point at which they'd be able to establish a legacy when they died. They both also believed that they had the girl of which they based their dreams on. Neither of them had their girl--Daisy & Tom ran off just as Nazario & Vera planned to. The twist to this aspect of the novels was that Gatsby died forgotten by society, while Bodega died honored by it. The reason for this was because the character of Gatsby did not necessarily use his wealth to help people, only to keep a reputation (ex. throwing parties, sending a guest a dress when i got ruined, etc.) while Bodega directly helped people pay their rent or tuition for school.
I just can't help thinking that Quinonez did rip off Fitzgerald. I realize thinking so might seem kind of naive or ignorant...but there are just way too many similarities right down to simple aspects--using Nicole's excerpt for instance, the one about the complements, I can honestly just picture Quinonez sitting with his pen & simply rewording Fitzgerald's original sentence. I realize that not all concepts in the novel are the same--but it's obvious that Quinonez took a lot out of Gatsby & in a sense, maybe not to any extremity, but plausibly in a sense, "ripped off" Gatsby.
At that, I think Bodega Dreams is an not an exemplification of writers ripping off other writers, but one of borrowing ideas & putting a new twist on them, despite what I said before about it seeming as though Quinonez "ripped off" Gatsby. It's just that Quinonez took a lot of Fitzgerald's ideas, but he also twisted them to create his own. I just feel as though Fitzgerald's ideas outweigh Q.'s in Bodega Dreams.
January 4, 2009 6:56 PM was Kathy Kendall
One similarity that I noticed while reading Bodega Dreams was this passage:
"Bodega had kicked the door down and left a green light of hope for everyone. He had represented the limitless possibilities in us all by living his life, striving for those dreams that seemed to elude the neighborhood year after year.....Tomorrow Spanish Harlem would run faster, fly higher, stretch out its arms farther, and one day those dreams would carry its people to new beginnings." (213)
Here is the passage that i found similar from the Great Gatsby:
" Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter--to-morrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther...And one fine morning---
So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past." (180)
Both these passages conclude the novel. These two passages basically say the same thing..using the same phrases and some of the same words. In both the passages, Bodega's and Gatsby's hopes and dreams are represented by the green light. Both the passages are talking about a new beginning, starting over. The passages use similar phrases such as "Tomorrow Spanish Harlem would run faster, fly higher, stretch out its arms farther..." and "to-morrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther...". Both these phrases are stating the same thing, that tomorrow is a new beginning and it is a new place to start from. Another similar phrase in the two passages would be: "(Bodega)striving for those dreams that seemed to elude the neighborhood year after year" and "Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then". These similar phrases basically state that we must work harder to achieve our dreams. These two passages are very similar, however, the passage from The Great Gatsby seems to emphasize the idea that the past is significant to the dreams of the future a little more. Ultimately, both the passages state that tomorrow is a new start and that everyone should keep working for their hopes and dreams.
-Alekhya Revur
The biggest similarity that I found between the two novels was the main character's love life. Both Gatsby and Bodega have interesting, if not slightly creepy, attachments to women from their past. They both end up dead in the end. However, the novels are actually pretty different.
It seems to me that Quiñonez didn't "rip off" The Great Gatsby so much as used it as a framework for his own novel. For one, Bodega and Gatsby both pine for some past love, but Bodega gets the short end of the deal, I think. He gets killed by Nazario, which doesn't really have a parallel in Gatsby. Quiñonez definitely adds his own flavor to the main idea of Gatsby. While they are very similar, Quiñonez definitely deserves some credit for the original ideas that he infused into the novel.
sorry i forgot to state whether or not Quinonez ripped off Fitzgerald.
I think he kinda did rip off Fitzgerald. I think that it is okay if other authors use the same ideas for their novels, however in this case, Quinonez not only used Fitzgerald's ideas but he also used a lot of the same vocabulary, phrases, and symbols. For example the green light...did it have to be green? couldnt it have been yellow? I do however agree that the main difference in the novels is Quinonez's twist at the end with Nazario.
-Alekhya Revur
Another parallel in between both books is that both Bodega and Gatsby want Vera and Daisy to tell their husbands that they never loved them. Bodega/Gatsby wanted them to tie things off with their husbands and make sure that in the end, they would have their long-lost biznatches. "'B'cause Vera needs to tell him'-he lit a cigarette-'that she never loved him.'" (Bodega Dreams, 168). This took place right before the meeting with Bodega, Chino, Vera, and her husband. Bodega wanted Vera to tell her husband that she never loved him and always loved Bodega. This is similar to how Gatsby wanted Daisy to live with him and for her to tell Tom that she never loved him.
As for the second question, Fitzgerald was definitely ripped off. Regardless how Quinonez creates drug lords and the entire idea of improving a neighborhood, the entire plot was created by Fitzy. To me it seems like Quinonez took Fitzy's plot and threw it into a situation relating to East Harlem and then just built off it from there. He definitely can't say that this is an original idea. Not much happens in the story other than the entire affair that's going on. You could consider this a writer ripping off another one and putting new ideas. I wouldn't say that all literature is similar to this; authors have influences from other authors and other works, but they don't steal a plot and call it a day like Quinonez did.
-Tony Lorenzi
One major similarity between "The Great Gatsby" and Bodega Dreams," which I am sure many people pointed out is the love that motivates Bodega and Gatsby. Both men, even when trying to better a community or his own life are still stuck on the life from their past. Gatsby, as we know is still in love with Daisy and even when he is having big parties and trying to become well known to the community his main goals still remains as winning Daisy back. In Bodega Dreams, we see the same goal. Willie Bodega wants to rebuild El Barrio and get members of Spanish Harlem to become loyal and trustworthy towards him, however like Gatsby his main goal is to win back his blast from the past Vera. We are able to notice this when he gets extremely nervous before he is going to meet Vera for the first time in forever and starts sweating in Julio's apartment. I think that is when the reader finds out Bodega has real feelings for Vera and is not pretending.
I believe that Bodega Dreams can be called original. Although, "The Great Gatsby" and "Bodega Dreams" may have similar main ideas, their settings and narrators are very different. In Bodega Dreams we see Julio narrating from Spanish Harlem about his life growing up and helpig to better the neighborhood...and in Great Gatsby we see Nick moving to a new place , different than Minnesota in order for him to find a new experience of life in a city, a place that is very different from where he grew up. Bodega Dreams is different enough to be called an original idea.
I think that taking some other writer's ideas would be harder because you want to make sure that you aren't copying exactly what they are saying...so therefore you need to put a twist to it or change it in some form or another so it's not theirs. Any author or writer must be creative, if he or she is going to use some other writer's ideas.
-Allie
One parallel I found between the two stories was the one between John Vidal and Vira and Tom and Daisey. Both women married their husbands over the man they truly loved because they were forced to due to finacial circumstances. Also, Gatsby wants Daisey to tell Tom she doesn't love him, whcih is the same thing Bodega want's of Vira.
I think that there is enough of a spin on this story to say that it wasn't a rip off of Gatsby, but when reading it one should remember that many of the elements in this story had been presented before by another writer. This is to say that when one reads it they should think of it to be the same literary feat that Gatsby was, but rather an enjoyable reimagining of a great story.
Jack Doyle
A parallel that I found between The Great Gatsby and Bodega Dreams is found in the Eulogy: "That day when I first met Bodega he had said, 'Should something happen to me, people will take to the streets.' But it never happened When he was killed, no cars were turned. No fires were set. No cops were conked. Nothing. The people in Spanish Harlem had to go to work. They had families to feed, night schools to attend businesses to run, and other things to do to improve their lives and themselves. No, no one took to the streets" (203). This is just like for Gatsby's funeral, There were only 3 people at Gatsby's funeral and no one wanted to associate themself with Gatsby. I think this is the same for Bodega. Because no one snitched back then (except for our little friend Julio at the end), everyone just went on with their daily (hey that's my last name only spelt differently =]) lives and didn't associate themselves with any charity from Bodega so they would not get dragged into the chaos. The twist that Quiñonez makes is told in the description of the crowd that attended his wake and funeral. People actually showed up and they all had good things to say about him. Like really Puerto Ricans and Latinos fro the 5 boroughs of NYC attended this man's funeral...WOW!! This is actually like the total opposite of Gatsby's funeral. Anyway, like Julio says, "the people had taken to the streets, but in honor, not anger" (208) People were actually at Bodega's funeral so say good things because he did good things(well half the time). As for Gastby..he just did bad things. too bad for him.
I think that Quiñonez did rip off Fitzgerald. The story was like basically the same. like Nick-Julio. DAisy-Vera. Bodega-Gatsby. The motif of both the stories was basically hope[for the better]. I mean there were a good number of differences but I feel like Q-tip had just finished reading The Great Gastby, liked it so much, and decided to write his own little spicy verson [no pun intended... seriously... haha but that was good. i think =]]
Well I think this does represend how all literature represents writers rippong off other writers. But I actually do not agree with that... I think most authors are original, they do take some things from other authors, but for the most part, I think that writing is borrowing ideas and putting new twists of them. Ugh that was a tough question. I don't even know if I answered it well. Now my brain hurts, thanks Ms. Philbin =]
--America's Next Top Model...Tiffany
One parallel that I noticed was that in both novels a women is the murderer of someone. In The Great Gatsby it was Daisy who ran over Myrtle, Tom's lover. In Bodega Dreams it was Vera who shot Vidal. I found this very interesting because in novels it is usually the men who are the murderer's, but in both novel's the women do most of the killing. This was the biggest similarity that stuck out in my mind.
It is obvious that Bodega Dreams takes many ideas from The Great Gatsby and puts a twist on them to create a different story but I do not believe that Quinonez ripped off Fitzgerald. There are enoguht differences in the novel to justify that it is it's own novel.
I believe that modern writing is just borrowing someones ideas and putting a twist on it to create a new novel. Throughout history there have been so many ideas that it is very unlikly to find a truly origanal idea. All authors have influences on their writing and almost all of those ideas are not origanal and therefore they are taking others ideas and putting a twist on it.
Mike Horgan
While the two books had different settings and different supporting characters, I thought that the reason they were similar was the connection between Gatsby and Bodega. Both Bodega and Gatsby are chasing the dream girls of their past. Neither realizes until its too late that the girls have changed in the many years that they were apart because all they see is the women they were with many years ago. While I think that Quinonez borrowed heavily from Fitzgerald, I do not think he plagiarized. While each author shows the main characters living in the past through an affiliate of each person, that is where the similarities end. One of the main themes in Gatsby is that a person is either born rich or is not, and a person cannot act rich if they are not born rich. In Bodega Dreams, there are no main characters that are rich so the newly rich trying to fit in is not a conflict. Also, while both Bodega and Gatsby are earning there money illegaly, Bodega is trying to better the hood while chasing his girl, a noble cause. Gatsby, on the other hand, has nothing noble about him and throws crazy drunken parties all the time.
-Josh F
"Before he could finish dialing, Vera shot him. She shot him once but it was enough... Bodega moved her hands away, uncovering her face. "Its all right mami, you won't go to prison," he said softly... "Listen." He placed his hand on my shoulder. "You were the only one here." He looked straight in my eyes and whispered, "You were the only one who saw me shoot." i froze. "What?" "I shot him," Bodega said, making sure Vera didn't hear anything. "You understand me, Chino?"
A similarity to The Great Gatsby in Bodega Dreams is that Vera kills Vidal, similar to how Daisy kills Myrtle. Both of their lovers, Bodega and Gatsby, respectively, decide to take the blame for their lover's killings. Quinonez puts a twist on Gatsby's idea by having Vera intentionally kill Vidal, unlike Daisy, whose car accidentally strikes Myrtle.
Yes, Quinonez did rip off Fitzgerald. There is not enough of a difference, as the plot, a few sub-plots and the major theme of the novel is the same as Gatsby. The only thing Quinonez did was change the plot, setting, tossed in some Spanish, and twisted a few details around for good measure. I believe writing is not borrowing ideas, but rather taking pieces of many different ideas and formulating new ideas based upon those, and building off of that.
- Tom Barnes
One big parallel at the end of the novel was how Chino feels truly sad for the death of Bodega just as Nick felt truly sad for the death of Gatsby. When Chino first finds out it crushes him, "I wasn't thinking about anything else but Bodega. Bodega was dead" (195). Chino really started to admire Bodega and would be attending his funeral even though the people didn't storm to the streets. In the Great Gatsby, Nick also started to admire Gatsby and helped with the funeral arrangements and would be attending. The prime difference is Nick was the only friend to attend Gatsby's funeral, apart from one other party-goer. Besides that, it was like Gatsby never existed or ever through such popular parties. Bodega, however, had many people attend his funeral to show his respects. Maybe in the Spanish-Harlem "brotherhood" and "loyaly" play a bigger role than in the speak-easy time of Gatsby and that is the main reason for this change.
Although the similarities are absolutely insane, I would in no way say that Quinonez ripped off Fitzgerald's idea. I believe he simply put it in a different time and a different place with different characters to prove the point that people don't change. All over the world the same conflicts exist and the same realtionships develop. It is the exact same thing as "West Side Story" being another "Romeo and Julliet". I think Quinonez wants the reader to pick up on the connections and think about how that relates to life everywhere. The endings of each novel were different enough that Quinonez did not "rip off" Fitzgerald's work. I always find it interesting to make connections between two novels with completely different settings and I'm sure Quinonez wanted that effect. I also believe that writing is "borrowing" people's ideas but putting your own twist on it for "you write what you read" (even though i just made that quote up...). You study other literature and that is where you get your indivudual work from. I strongly doubt that Quinonez never read the Great Gatsby because he must have based his novel off of it. Bodega Dreams was an excellent novel though so props to Quinonez for truely modernizing a classic story.
-MEGHAN DOHERTY :) :) :)
One example that I saw in the second half of the novel that relates to the Great Gatsby is the fact that Bodega specifically wanted Vera to tell her husband that she never loved him. He says to Julio, "B'cause Vera needs to tell him'-he lit a cigarette-'that she never loved him"(168). The exact same thing happened in the Great Gatsby when Gatsby tells Nick that he wishes that Daisy would tell Tom that she never loved him. The exact same words! Bodega Dreams puts a twist on this situation because once the novel ends we find out that Vera was actually fooling EVERYONE and that she was actually in love with Nazario.
Although it is quite obvious that Quinonez got the basic ideas for his plot from The Great Gatsby, I don't think you can necessarily say that he "ripped off" Fitzgerald's work. Quinonez includes different characters and different plots and his huge twist at the end was of his own imagination. The modern setting sharply contrasts with Fitzgerald's old New York City, and the narrators of both novels face different challenges. As for the other half of the question, all authors have to get inspiration from SOMEWHERE, and this usually comes from another author's work. But in order for it to be called your own work, you must give it your own voice and thought, and Quinonez accomplished this in his novel, Bodega Dreams.
--Allie Nix
An example I found that parallels to the Great Gatsby are the characters Vera and Daisy. In both novels, they both end up murdering someone. Daisy kills Myrtle with her car in Great Gatsby and Vera shoots her husband in this novel. And also Daisy hit Myrtle with Gatsby's car and Vera shot her husband with Bodega's gun, and as I stated half way through the novel, Gatsby and Bodega are very similar. In addition to this, both Gatsby and Bodega take the blame for the murders which ultimately concludes in them causing their own deaths.
Between the two novels, Bodega Dreams has more going on and more schemes are involved. Yes both novels are quite similar, but in Great Gatsby, Daisy did not mean to hit Myrtle with the car, it was simply a mishap of events. And in Bodega Dreams, Bodega ended up getting shot by Nazario, who was his own partner. And also Nazario had been scheming the whole time against Bodega thus proving that Bodega has more of a twist on it's story than in Gatsby.
Within both novels, they each had their own uniqueness to them, but Quinonez definitely added more of a twist to his story. Quinonez and Fitzgerald definitely had the same story line but Quinonez took the ending of his novel as his own and put his own adaptation on it which personalized his novel. I had wished that Quinonez would separate his story a little more from the Great Gatsby, but he definitely added the little details which helped his novel different. I don't believe he stole any ideas, he simply just put his own twist on things. I believe that authors do tend to take other author ideas, but add their own unique style to it separating it from others.
-Megan C
There are numerous parallels between Bodega Dreams and The Great Gatsby.
"I think you're worth all the souls in hell(pg 193 Bodega)
"They're a rotten crowd...You're worth the whole damn bunch put together."(pg 154 Gastby)
These quotes are both said by the narrator to the Bodega or Gastby. They are compliments, even if not very good ones, that show that nick and Chino have respect for their respective Gastby/Bodega character. Throughout the whole novel, nick and Chino dont like Bodega or Gastby but with this quote, it is shown that they value these people. It makes the readers see goodness in these characters.
There are many parallels between the two books The Great Gastby and Bodega Dreams. I dont think Quinonez copied Fitzgerald. The books share similar plots but that is bound to happen if enough time passes. One Author is bound to have similar ideas to another. There are differences between the texts that Quinonez did not copy Fitzgerald. There is the plot twist of Vera loving Nazario that is not in The Great Gastby. In Bodega Dreams Bodega's funeral is flooded and he is seen a an object of hope to the people. In The great Gastby, Gastby's funeral is empty. Although the novel's plots are similar, they deliver drastically different massages. In The Great Gastby, striving to retrieve the past kills Gastby and leaves him a failure, in Bodega Dreams, it is the effort to bring back the past that leaves Bodega a hero.
James ackley
Both Gatsby and Bodega pulled some of the most pathetic moves I have ever seen and are extremely similiar.
Gatsby told Daisy to tell Tom that "she never loved him" and Bodega tells Vidal that "Youre wife, she never loved you"(188).
What is see in this is so similiar that it is sad. It is too pathetic, narsissistic and childish men who think that three or four words will take away years of pain. Basically both them amased huge fortunes to impress their high school sweethearts and then not win then back and die. That's so wrong on so many different levels. Make a living caus you want to, not so you can impress youre little girlfriend. She should wanna be with you money or not. And also these guys game is AWFUL. You dont't go through distant relatives or friends to set up awkward meetings and play dumb like you didn't plan it. They should have put on their nicest suit and pulled out some suave moves on these girls. Both novels are parallel in many ways and it is honestly like reading the same book twice.
I only wish that we didn't know that this was a rip off of the Great Gatsby. Obviously we would have figured it out but it wouldn't have ruined the novel by having us look for the parallels. I actually enjoyed this book more (not just cause the foul language). I never really knew about the Spanish Harlem and it seems like an interesting place. Once again, the white wanna-be suburban kids being attracted to the badass lifestyle of the Spanish Harlem. I admit it, I'm a sucker for danger. Quinonez should have changed it up a little because in the end he did rip off Fitzgerald. It's just sad because Quinonez had a much better setting and storyline to work with. Had he been original, he would have gotten alot more credit and a great book on his hands.
-$Brendan$ "GET RICH OR DIE TRYIN'"
One parallel I see in both novels is the themes of women and one's past leading to one's downfall. In The Great Gastby, Gatsby wants to suceed for Daisy, the love from his past. He throws parties, has a big house, and takes pride in himself, hoping that it will be enough to win Daisy over. This looking to find the love that Daisy and Gatsby shared in the past lead to Gatsby's death. In Bodega Dreams, Bodega looks to his past love, Vera and achieves success for her. His blindness to the world around him and his focus on just Vera lead to his death as well.
This plots are remarkably similar. I think what Quinonez did to Fitzgerald is like what authors did to Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet". The plots were similar, but provided the reader with twists that the other novel did not provide. For example, no one set up anyone in Gatsby, but Nazario set up Bodega. Gatsby outsome came from a set of circumstances in no one's control, but in Bodega Dreams, Bodega was tricked and manipulated by Nazario, his trusted partner. So I think that Quinonez took the plot and twisted it in a modern way, but I don't think it was necessary to use symbols like the green light.
- heather carr
One of the major parallels that i noticed in the 2nd half of the novel, was the love triangles. In the Great Gatsby, Gatsby is in love with one lady from his past realtionship, and he follows her, but not to closely for he didnt want her to know he was still in love with her. The conflict with that, was that he lived next door to Daisys cousin, nick, and he was then introduced to daisy again by him. That set a controversy between daisy, her husband tom, and the great gatsby. Tom is smart so he recognizes the connection that daisy has with gatsby, and kills him off.
In Bodega Dreams, Bodega is in love with a girl from his past relationship, and his whole life is set up, in the novel, to make him be the person she wanted him to be. When he thinks he achieve that goal, he meets her cousins husband, and makes him set them up.
In both novels, the 2 main characters die because of the women they wanted their whole lives. They spent their lives trying to become something they didnt "want" in life, but they didnt necessarily know that they were doing the wrong thing.
To answer the question if Bodega Dreams is a rip off of The Great Gatsby, the answer is yes, it is.
The stories have the same plot, and the same theme. The only difference is the time period. There is no reason that Bodega Dreams should fully be credited without crediting F. Scott Fitzgerald.
MAckenzie
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