Manuel Muñoz’s What You See in the Dark makes effective use of symbolism. Muñoz manipulates one particular symbol – the darkness – in such a way that it further engages readers into the text. The novel, pertaining to the mystery genre, closes with an ambiguous ending that leaves readers with no other choice but to speculate over the precise details of the story. The symbol of darkness is the avenue by which readers are allowed to believe their speculations. It is vital to the progression of the plot in that it creates numerous possibilities for the resolution of the story existing in one dimension, and it births even more dynamic characters by allowing readers to accept any interpretations they may have of them. By examining the different ways in which Muñoz utilizes darkness, we are able to recognize exactly how the symbol is able to propel the plot of the story forward.

Muñoz’s literary work strays away from the norm in that it presents readers with an unresolved mystery, leaving out an accurate account of what really happens to the protagonists by the end of the novel. Furthermore, there are several instances in the novel where Muñoz is ambiguous, and he utilizes darkness as a filler or symbolic representation for everything that is left ambiguous. This is how he is allowed to leave out several details and still resolve the conflict of the story.

If you had been across the street, pretending to investigate the local summer roses outside of Holliday’s Flower Shop, you could have seen them through the café’s plate glass, the two sitting in a booth by the window, eating lunch. (Muñoz 3)

Muñoz introduces his readers to Bakersfield, California of the 1950’s by making creative use of a second-person narrator. The readers become residents of the town by engaging in the speculation over what is happening, instigating rumors and spreading gossip as they wonder about the lives of Dan Watson and Teresa Garza. Much of the interaction between these two characters happens in the dark so neither plot characters nor readers are able to fully understand what is actually happening between the two. Readers find themselves having to make assumptions of what they believe really happening in the dark, and they do not have any other choice but to accept their assumptions as truth. Muñoz does not provide additional details that can confirm or deny their assumptions, but he does utilize a symbolic representation of darkness to stand in the place of these would-have-been details.

What was the cause for Teresa Garza’s death? Who murdered her, and how was it done? Muñoz shares some of the details of the crime throughout the progression of the novel. Teresa was murdered late at night, most likely in the shadows of the stairway leading up to her apartment. Here, signifiers such as late at night and shadows of the stairway suggest darkness. The darkness is an abstract representation of something that is arbitrary, something that can become subjective – that is, anything could have happened in the dark and there do not exist any characters who could accurately attest the truth. Muñoz manipulates darkness in such a way that it is able to stand in place for everything that is ambiguous.

A common feature of the mystery novel is a scene of resolution in which the crime is revealed and the criminal is exposed. However, What You See in the Dark is unique in that it presents an unresolved mystery as Muñoz never gives a definite account of what actually happens – as the saying goes, he leaves readers in the dark. In this case, readers must contemplate and accept what they imagine to be true in the same way that the townspeople of Bakersfield assess the little that they do know for fact, speculate, and begin to spread rumors. As Ms. Watson attests, “people believe whatever story they want to believe, even if they make it up, and it already has its own beginning and its own middle and its own end.” (Muñoz 51).

Muñoz is also able to recreate the same effects of darkness even in the absence of literal darkness. It is through the perspective of Ms. Watson where readers may capture this. Ms. Watson does not give too many details regarding the deterioration of her marriage but she does ponder on the legacy it left behind. She wonders if the young waitresses have ever talked about it behind her back. What do they make of it? How do they perceive her? Ms. Watson understands darkness – that is, she understands the power of ambiguity – and she realizes that it may come with backlash if the young waitresses only perceive the negative and choose to accept the negative as truth. It is important to note that whatever happened between Ms. Watson and her ex-husband remains in the dark, and the dark is a symbol for what is ambiguous.

The narrator offers something else of similar nature in an interaction between the unnamed actress and the young waitresses. The waitresses are quick to notice that the man the actress is with is not her husband. They consider what they know for fact – she is married, and she is a long way from home in a town where nobody knows her. They assume the worst – the actress must be cheating on her husband – and they accept their assumptions as truth. The factual details that the readers discover through the now third-person narrator are kept in the dark, allowing the young waitresses to make what they will out of something abstract. The role that the waitresses play in this incident is the same role the readers play in the larger framework of the novel. Readers consider the information they know for fact, assess it, make assumptions based off of it, and inevitably believe their assumptions. The symbolic representation of darkness is a powerful literary tool in that it maneuvers the ways in which readers interpret the story. The symbol of darkness is vital to the progression of the plot in Manuel Muñoz’s What You See in the Dark. It allows for Muñoz to exclude several details out of the story but still make the storyline appear to be complete with a resolution.