The specific city in which this play takes place is not explicitly stated, and the two scenes of the play do not directly deal with the city scene because they both take place in homes.Within this story, only general references to locations are made with no specific addresses of the story’s location. The whole play takes places in houses, with no further description.
Scene One takes place within the character Maruja’s house, which is described as having a well-decorated parlor, crystal doors, and a hall decorated for a party with a buffet and area for dancing. From this description we can infer that Maruja was one of the characters within the play that had money and was able to display it in her home.
Contrarily, Scene Two take place in Ricardo’s house (a boarding house) for his own wake. The room shown on stage for this scene is described as being simple and respectable. A boarding was a house where people could rent out rooms for an extended period of time and live there.
The two settings of the play show the differing themes and tones between the two acts. Act One shows a bright, vibrant, fun party scene representing life and money. Act Two shows a dim, small room which Ricardo’s body lays in representing death and betrayal and the somber tone the play takes towards the end.