Two primary settings dominate the novel, the village of Salud, Puerto Rico, and the tenement of El Building in Paterson, New Jersey. A third setting plays a secondary role, non-Puerto Rican mainstream urban New Jersey. These three cultures often clash throughout the book. In fact, it is cultural incongruity that leads to the tragic El Building fire. Uneasiness that stems from living in a foreign culture, as well as fear of impending widespread unemployment and civil strife, leads the El Building women to turn to their cultural roots for comfort. They decide to hold a spiritualist meeting to ask the dead for help in dealing with their problems, a common Puerto Rican reaction to unhappiness and fear. Lacking any such tradition in their own cultural backgrounds, the Paterson police assume the spiritualist meeting is a meeting to plan civil disobedience, or even violence. Understanding this cultural disconnect, Marisol...