50 pages • 1 hour read
Carla TrujilloWhat Night Brings
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2003A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Sections 4-8Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Section 4 Summary
Marci prays to become a boy. She asks this “not because I think I’m a boy […] It’s because I like girls” (9). She doesn’t believe that girls can fall in love with other girls. She wants to change before she’s 14 years old because her science books say that is when boys reach puberty.
Marci tries to avoid sin because she relies on God to answer her prayers. Her mother is unwilling to leave or confront Eddie, something remarked upon by Leti and Marci’s Grandma Flor.
Section 5 Summary
Marci and Corin arrive home before their father. Marci prays for Eddie to be in a good mood, though her prayers “never made a difference” (10). She is already frustrated with God. When Marci sees that her mother is burning their dinner, she knows that Eddie will complain. Worse, she knows Delia will “look at him like a scared pup” if he does (11).
Section 6 Summary
Marci recalls the first time she can remember Eddie beating her and Corin, though she doesn’t remember the cause. In her memory, Eddie hits her legs with his belt as he curses at her. After beating her, he turns to Corin.
Corin tries to flee, but Eddie grabs her by the hair and chokes her. Delia only watches as Marci begins to pray. Eddie slaps Corin, and she falls to the floor. When Eddie hears Marci praying, he whips her face with his belt.
Delia checks on Corin then goes to Eddie. He calls his daughters to him. Marci is afraid of him but knows she must obey: “fear’s stronger than hate” (14). Eddie apologizes to the girls and looks at their bruised bodies. As the girls walk back to their room, Delia touches Eddie’s hand in a show of forgiveness. Marci, too, forgives Eddie, “even though I hated myself for doing it” (15).
Section 7 Summary
Marci doesn’t want to be a boy only because she likes girls—she also wants to be strong enough to fight Eddie. She asks Eddie for weights, but the family can’t afford them. He suggests asking her Uncle Tommy, who has his own equipment.
Uncle Tommy doesn’t have extra weights to loan Marci, but she secretly works out in his basement when they visit him.
Section 8 Summary
Delia refuses to go anywhere without Eddie, though Marci has no problem walking around San Lorenzo. Delia tried driving a car once, but Eddie yelled at her, and she never drove again. Marci suggests that she hitchhike because “At least there wouldn’t be anyone yelling at her” (16).
Marci is sheltered from some realities about relationships and wants her parents to act like the couples on TV. When her pregnant cousin Berta visits, Marci asks her how babies are made. She hopes that it has nothing to do with Berta’s boyfriend’s penis, because “I didn’t think I could stomach him touching her anywhere with that” (17). Berta and her boyfriend tell her they prayed for their baby, but Marci knows this isn’t the truth.
Sections 4-8 Analysis
Marci’s first hints at independence appear in these sections. Wishing to become a boy signifies not only freedom to love other girls but is also part of her urge to stand up to Eddie. This is partially due to Delia’s unwillingness to help herself, which becomes increasingly frustrating for Marci: “I sometimes think she’s taking drugs because she never remembers what he does to her, or Corin and me” (10). It contrasts her own growth toward a more active protagonist.
Marci is still following the directions of her religion, appealing to her savior by avoiding sin. When Marci acknowledges that prayer does not always help, it presents God as either distant or irrational. This could describe Eddie, as well, whose first violent outburst has no clear cause. The women in Marci’s family are at the whims of their male saviors, be that God or Eddie.
