Spidertown: Analysis of Major Characters

Author: Abraham Rodriguez, Jr.

First published: 1993

Genre: Novel

Locale: South Bronx, New York City

Plot: Bildungsroman

Miguel (mee-GEHL), a sixteen-year-old crack cocaine delivery boy. At one time in his life, he wanted to become a writer, but he abandoned this dream when he realized that there were no famous Puerto Rican writers. In the seventh grade, his English teacher asked him to compose an essay about his father, but he could only think of negative things to say; he then dropped out of school. On the streets, he turned to Spider for support, regarding the crack czar as a surrogate father. Miguel is well read, intelligent, and uncommonly sensitive, but he is also self-deluded. He misconstrues money and power as success and considers himself to be an adult. His relationship with Cristalena forces him to see the perversion and ugliness of his life. Gradually, through a process of self-analysis, he redeems and defines himself. By the end of the novel, he has attained considerable self-awareness and crossed the threshold of maturity.

Amelia, a twenty-one-year-old crack user and psychology major at City College (though she has taken a brief respite from her studies). She is Firebug's girlfriend and Miguel's best friend. Miguel describes her as “funny and twisted and sometimes sad.” She has sex with Spider in exchange for crack. Although she suffers from low self-esteem, she is intelligent, sensitive, and independent. She reads books by Charles Dickens and Jean-Paul Sartre, whose existential philosophy appeals to her. She describes herself as a “Latino girl with brains.” Unlike her two older sisters, obsequious husband-hunters, Amelia has set her sights on a career as a therapist and a marriage of equality, but the men in her life discouraged her, treated her contemptuously, and drove her to society's fringe, where she lives with junkies, prostitutes, and outcasts. As she counsels Miguel to self-awareness, she undergoes a parallel transformation, finds herself again, and returns to college.

Cristalena (krees-tah-LEH-nah), Miguel's sixteen-year-old girlfriend, a preacher's daughter. She is rebellious, sexually repressed (though not a virgin), and intelligent. Her parents are oppressive religious fanatics. To dress fashionably and date boys, she must resort to subterfuge, changing clothes at school and pretending to spend her evenings at her aunt's apartment. She pursues Miguel aggressively, initiating their first sexual encounter. Miguel is fond of saying that she has a name like a poem, and Amelia describes her jealously as a “Latino Barbie Doll.” Her father's fiery sermons on sin continue to haunt her, causing her occasional pangs of guilt. Although naïve and pristine, Cristalena is extremely sensible, a planner by nature. She rejects Miguel's suggestion that they move in together because she knows that they will not be able to support themselves. She is realistic about her age and education and recognizes the necessity of staying in school. Her ambition is to become a dress designer and work in Paris.

Spider, an ambitious crack czar who is both a “Streetwise Patton” and a latter-day Fagin. To dissociate himself from his boring father, who worked for years as a postal employee and then retired to a life of dominoes, Spider entered the exciting, lucrative world of drugs and staked his claim aggressively. Now he considers himself to be an important crime boss. He loves corporate paraphernalia such as business cards, which in his organization are appropriately vague. He boasts that he can “grab a ten-year-old kid and turn him into a successful businessman faster than IBM or ITT.” He talks like a successful entrepreneur drunk on the American Dream, yet he dresses poorly and smells bad. Through flattery, bribery, and lies, Spider lures children into his web and devours them.

Firebug, Miguel's roommate, a teenage arsonist. Abused by his father, who used to burn him as punishment, he grew extremely fond of fire. In school, he would throw fiery “scrunchballs” at the teacher, and once he set a girl on fire. He makes a living by burning down tenement buildings for businessmen. He requires his friends to attend his “wienie roasts” to witness his art; he depends on their accounts of the fires to inflate his ego. Because he wants to be ready to move at a moment's notice, he shuns possessions, keeping his few belongings in a gym bag. He seldom displays emotion and may be incapable of genuine emotion.