Each of the five characters in “Puerto Rican Obituary” desires a life characterized by financial stability in the mainland U.S. They work hard, “never took a coffee break” (Line 49), and seek to take part in the conspicuous consumption notable among white Americans. They buy used cars, some better than others, and televisions, even though the purchases might have been beyond their means; Miguel “died waiting for the welfare check / to come and go and come again” (Lines 66-67) and the poem contains multiple references to bill collectors. Ultimately, the five realize they cannot achieve this dream without outside intervention, most notably relying on the lottery to save them from “make-believe steak / and bullet-proof rice and beans” (Lines 44-45).

“Dreaming” (Line 101) is repeated numerous times in the poem and the speaker most often associates dreams with acquisitive goals such as living in a “Thirty-thousand-dollar home” (Line 105) in a “Clean-cut lily-white neighborhood” (Line 103). The five seek “to belong to a community” (Line 107), instead of living on “nervous breakdown streets / where the mice live like millionaires / and the people do not live at all” (Lines 59-61). These “Clean-cut” (Line 103) neighborhoods are the equivalent of the nice house with the white picket fence often associated with the American dream.