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 42-46Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Section 42 Summary
The last time Marci sees Danny, it is a family Thanksgiving celebration with her family. Marci watches Tommy and Chacón cooking in the kitchen in order “to figure out whether they were queer or not, and more importantly, if I cared” (165). Danny spends the day in the living room, giving slurred, rambling advice to another cousin before passing out.
The Sunday after Thanksgiving, Marci and her family learn that Danny has died from a heroin overdose. Marci reflects on a prayer: “When he left I prayed for him to come back alive. But I should have asked for more” (169). At a rosary for Danny, the family sees his body displayed in a coffin. Marci cries over his death for the first time. Eddie “yelled out sounds that I didn’t think could come from a man, much less Eddie” (170). It is a moment of humanity.
Father Chacón gives Mass at Danny’s funeral, which upsets Eddie. Danny is buried “under a tree that was on top of a hill. If you squinted your eyes a little, you could see part of the bay” (171). This was Danny’s wish and is perhaps the first time Marci has seen a prayer come true.
Section 43 Summary
Raquel’s mother tells Marci and her family that Raquel has gotten married and moved away. This upsets Marci, who demands directly of God, “start paying attention to me, will you” (172). Raquel leaves a gift for Marci: a bag with gardening tools and a short note. Pleased that Raquel didn’t forget about her, Marci prays for her.
Section 44 Summary
On a Tuesday evening, Marci, Corin, and Delia are watching television when Eddie comes home with another woman. Eddie puts his arm around the woman before leading her into the apartment. He introduces her as Wanda—the woman he was dating when he moved away.
Eddie and Wanda drink and smoke cigarettes. Delia refuses to join them and calls Eddie a clown. Eddie and Wanda talk about their schoolmates, including a man whose wife cheated on and divorced him. Before leaving, Wanda passively insults Delia by saying, “I think I’m slowing down a bit. Age does that to you […] Having kids does it, too, though I wouldn’t know since I don’t have any” (181).
Despite Eddie’s insistence that he isn’t having an affair, Delia sleeps alone on the couch.
Section 45 Summary
Delia refuses to make breakfast for Eddie. While he’s at work, she tells Marci and Corin to pack some clothes and food. Marci cuts holes in her Barbie suitcase, preferring to use a paper bag. Delia drives herself and the girls to a bus station, where they board a bus to Albuquerque. An older woman allows Marci to look at a map she’s carrying; Marci traces their route and realizes they’re heading toward the town where Flor lives.
The bus stops for a short break. Delia tells the girls to stay on board while she makes a phone call. They follow her and eavesdrop. Delia calls Eddie and tells him that if he keeps talking to Wanda, she won’t return. Marci and Corin only hear her side of the conversation, but Eddie convinces Delia to come home with them.
Section 46 Summary
The night she returns home, Marci has a nightmare in which she is a man and “Raquel was in the dream […] looking at me like she wanted me” (192). This makes Marci happy until she realizes that in the dream, she is Eddie. She wakes up, upset and panting.
Sections 42-46 Analysis
Danny’s death and Raquel’s marriage signify two more wishes of Marci’s that have not come true. While she does interpret Danny’s burial place as the fulfillment of one of his wishes, it comes after his death. Danny is symbolic throughout the story of Marci’s relationship to Eddie, and it is significant that his death precedes the fulfillment of his wishes. This could be a truth in Marci’s life, as well.
While Delia is usually dismissive of the girls’ claims against Eddie, Wanda’s arrival reverses the roles. The girls see Wanda as a big joke, but her presence harms Delia’s ego. Eddie is testing his power over Delia, which momentarily backfires. Their bus journey gives Marci and Corin another step toward awakening and independence, but their safety is continually hindered by Delia, who “never does nothing about him hitting us” (183). Delia’s codependency is a marker of domestic abuse, and Eddie’s ability to make her feel worthless keeps her in the abusive cycle. Rather than standing up for the lives of her children, she forgives his every flaw.
Danny’s overdose presents another victim of trauma. While Marci, Corin, and Delia are traumatized by the abusive Eddie, Danny suffered from PTSD from his time in the war. Marci’s note that she should have prayed for more than just the preservation of Danny’s life suggests she realizes his mental scars were far more detrimental than his physical ones. His trauma took his life.
