Olga Dies Dreaming

“I bleed Old Brooklyn, thank you very much. My family’s been in Sunset Park since the sixties. One of the first Puerto Rican families in the ‘hood and we owned our house.”

Being a Puerto Rican Brooklynite is essential to Olga’s identity. Both of her homes—Puerto Rico through her parents and Brooklyn by birth—are threatened by growing real estate encroachment and gentrification. Throughout the novel, she sees both places threatened by the interests of wealthy developers willing to price out marginalized residents for their own profit.

“‘I suppose though,’ Matteo offered, ‘most of us in New York live double lives, with a secret of some sort living behind closed doors.’”

Both Olga and Prieto have secrets, the foremost being their mother and her revolutionary activities. Blanca has had a profound effect on each of their lives, though they are hesitant to let this come to light. Ultimately, they learn to take away the power of her words by speaking them aloud to family members who love and accept them.

“Querida, one day my work will make you proud. You will see our people take off the shackles of oppression and say, ‘Mami helped to do that.’ And you can take pride, knowing your sacrifice was a part of it. This is my word.”

For as long as Olga can remember, she has believed that being motherless is a sacrifice that she made for revolution and for the liberation of Puerto Rico. However, during the course of the novel, she realizes that Blanca’s abandonment was a selfish act. Tía Lola points out that Blanca never had the “mothering gene” (229). Olga did not make a sacrifice; her mother made it for her.