Story 4

The story’s narrator, <a data-internal-link data-link-type="Character" href="https://www.supersummary.com/the-dangers-of-smoking-in-bed/major-character-analysis/#768730">Josefina</a>, is a young girl who says that her mother, grandmother, and sister were terrified of every possible harm the world could deliver, but Josefina never shared their <a data-internal-link data-link-type="Symbols & Motifs" href="https://www.supersummary.com/the-dangers-of-smoking-in-bed/symbols-and-motifs/#768744">fear</a> until they visited Corrientes when she was six. What Josefina remembers most about the trip was visiting a witch whom people called The Woman. There was a large well in The Woman’s yard that Josefina peered into excitedly despite her mother and grandmother’s panic, and she spent the afternoon examining The Woman’s altars and offerings while her mother, sister, and grandmother sat on stools as The Woman “talked, or prayed” (39). When Josefina got bored, she fell asleep in an armchair and woke after dark. She wanted to look in the well again before they left, but she was suddenly consumed by fear.&nbsp; Even after they returned to Buenos Aires, Josefina couldn’t sleep. Every noise she heard seemed to herald doom, and even her own heartbeat filled her with fear. She was sure she could see the devil’s face in the plaster on the ceiling and worried about a ghost known as the Mule Spirit when she heard a horse or donkey nearby.

Story 4 Summary: “The Well”

Story 5

Story 5 Summary: “Rambla Triste” 

Story 6

Story 6 Summary: “The Lookout”

Stories 4-6

Stories 4-6 Analysis

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Story Summaries & Analyses

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death by suicide, child death, substance use, graphic violence, sexual content, cursing, illness, and death.

Stories 1-3

The Dangers of Smoking in Bed Stories 1-3 Summary & Analysis

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of suicidal ideation and self-harm, child death, substance use, addiction, graphic violence, sexual violence, rape, child sexual abuse, mental illness, emotional abuse, and death.

The Dangers of Smoking in Bed Stories 4-6 Summary & Analysis

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of child sexual abuse, graphic violence, sexual violence, mental illness, emotional abuse, self-harm, sexual content, illness, and death.

Stories 7-9

The Dangers of Smoking in Bed Stories 7-9 Summary & Analysis

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of child sexual abuse, child death, child abuse, graphic violence, physical abuse, substance use, addiction, sexual content, mental illness, emotional abuse, death by suicide, self-harm, suicidal ideation, and death.

The Dangers of Smoking in Bed

Stories 4-6Chapter Summaries & Analyses

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