Spanish Harlem
The imagery of Spanish Harlem comes to the reader as if by a Dream, because it is often not the remarkable concrete imagery of the city that matters most, but the abstract essence of that community. There is definitely an abstract sense for insiders and outsiders in this community, and in an attempt to explore through imagery what that community "feels like," an artistic gamut is run, from neighborhood slang to neighborhood social norms for behavior to neighborhood standards for ethical principles. At the top of those lists is loyalty and honor.
Crime and underground community
The underground community of New York City has been the subject material for important human art since the city's inception. The scenery is so close to a kind of wilderness because the chaotic pressure of hyper-population makes life a certain way which resembles the dog-eat-dog ways of animal nature. The criminal element of the city is an important reminder not to be naive in Spanish Harlem. One cannot be naive when one new association makes them the target of arson. That has a way of broadening a person's understanding of life's tendency to disrupt peaceful situations.
Emotional loyalty
Perhaps a better label for this novel's depiction of loyalty might be "emotional loyalty," because the truth about Chino's loyalty in general is that he is fairly average on that front. He feels he is loyal because he is obeying his emotional curiosities. He is loyal to Sapo as a practice, but to himself, it comes naturally. He naturally trusts his opinion and operates from a place of instinct rather than a place of principle. That makes him rather fluid, and therefore his demonstration of loyalty has confusing factors.
Social life
The major action of the drama is actually not criminal or socio-economic; it is personal and social. Chino's story is largely a journey of harmonizing his internal sense of self to his outward personality and how he is perceived through his community. That communal opinion of him might be call honor, and then the social fabric becomes more apparent; Chino is in the middle of discovering his role in the community by exploring associations to strong people, hoping to find some sort of in-road to power and privilege. In the meantime, a dance unfolds as the young men and young women pair off and marry, noticing the way that changes their life.