En La Noche starts with a woman, Mrs. Navarrez, locked up in her room, screaming about "her Joe". The people living in her are fed up with her screeching, saying how she's been non-stop since her husband went off to war and they've been getting absolutely no sleep. One night, they're all on the porch while Mrs. Navarrez is inside, still screaming, and they decide that one of the men must go into her room and seduce her so she stops. Mr. Villanazul, one of the tenants, is convinced by the rest and his wife to 'take one for the team' and seduce her. He goes inside and a few minutes later the screaming stops.
An interesting technique that was used was how when Mr. Villanazul goes inside, the reader doesn't see what happens. The reader stays on the porch with the other tenants as they explain to each other what must be happening. "'Now, Mr. Villanazul talks quickly, he pleads he whispers, he promises,' cried the man softly. The screaming settled to a sobbing, the sobbing to a moan, and finally all died away into breathing and the pounding of hearts and listening." This quote really sets the moment of the night air filled with the woman's wails that tamper off into nothing. All the imagery, and the reader isn't even there to witness it - just told about it.
