What I think about The Tortilla Curtain

The Tortilla Curtain by T.C. Boyle effectively portrayed the emotions felt by ardent supporters and hard-line nativists on the illegal immigration issue. It was very beneficial for me because as I was simultaneously working on a debate project about the Arizona Immigration Law, this novel gave me valuable insight that allowed me to understand the issue from a poignant perspective. I enjoyed the depth of Boyle’s symbolism and his Hemingway-like incorporation of the setting as an integral part of the plot. Also, the differing personalities of the characters created an expression of viewpoints across the entire spectrum of the immigration issue. I found it truly enlightening.

However, I did find the novel to end very abruptly and stop short mid-way through the falling-action leaving me, the reader, empty and pondering about what had happenned to the protagonists in the end. This syntax is very similar to the ending in Ernest Hemingway’s, The Old Man and the Sea, because both leave the reader with the idea that the plot will continue in a sequel. We all know that true to his ways, Hemingway never wrote a sequel to any of his stories and quite frankly, I think Boyle is likely to do the same. Even though this novel had an alternative ending, it also made it unique in the fact that it left the reader in suspense, wanting to read on, wanting to discover Delaney and Candido's fates.

The novel also touched upon the sense of disillusionment/materialism/affluence that Americans exude in their everyday lives. Candido learns early on that even the poor Americans have an apartment and two cars. The influx of illegal immigrants are just an effect of one issue, what about the violence of terrorism, the bondage of slavery, and the cruelty of political suppression present in other countries? By “wall[ing] ourselves in” we have become ignorant of the world around us. Boyles exposes this problem and challenges Americans to drop their feigned ignorance and embrace the problems of the world, a revolutionary idea, one that can change history.

The coyote and the immigrant

The coyote is the most prevalent symbol in The Tortilla Curtain. However, Delaney is the only character that acknowledges its meaning, but only in nature. The symbol reveals his own ignorance, as he does not realize that the coyote represents the versatility of the illegal immigrant in American society. Candido is a figurative coyote “who can find water where there is none (Boyle79).” The symbol shows through one particular example that Candido is “cunning, versatile, hungry, and unstoppable (Boyle215).” After losing all his belongings and makeshift camp in a wildfire, Candido refuses to give up on his dream and instead, builds a new shelter using stolen wooden pallets as wall frames, newspaper as insulation, a large sheet of gardening plastic as a roof/rain catcher, and re-routing the Arroyo Blanco Estates’ sprinkler system towards his encampment to provide fresh water for his family. All these creative ideas mirror the innovation used by coyotes to survive.
The coyote’s symbolic nature is revealed in Delaney’s nature column, “Pilgrim at Topanga Creek,” where he analyses its presence in the local environment. He begins, “We cannot eradicate the coyote , nor can we fence him out…the coyote is not to blame-he is only trying to survive, to make a living, to take advantage of the opportunities available to him (Boyle214),” now substitute “coyote” with “illegal immigrant/Candido” and the true purpose of the coyote in the novel becomes obvious. Candido is in America for the same reason our ancestors came here, for “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

Motif- "One Man's trash, is another man's treasure"

Barbara Kingsolver simplifies the motif/adage of “one man’s trash, is another man’s treasure” in The Tortilla Curtain best when she says, “He (T.C. Boyle) comically and painfully details the smug wastefulness of the haves and the vile misery of the have-nots.” In the novel, Boyle constantly reminds his audience that the simple necessities, the “trash” Delaney (a symbol of the typical American, myself included) takes for granted such as hot running water, a fridge full of food, and a roof over his head are the “treasures” Candido (a symbol of the border-hopping-American-dream-seeker) strains for as he heaves himself up the trail from his shanty shack, day after day, in search of work.
Why does Boyle keep Candido in a constant state of misery? Why does he get Candido’s hopes up and then crush them so vehemently? I believe this is because Boyle wants his readers to appreciate the abundance of which we, the American public, fail to recognize in our everyday lives. He repudiates this idea in the text when Candido feels “as happy as he had ever been (Boyle257),” while roasting a small turkey, a thanksgiving gift from a benevolent citizen, without the fixings for thanksgiving. Because even without the mashed potatoes, the turkey gravy, the cranberries, etc. Candido is grateful for his blessings, however small. This is the moral lesson that develops throughout the novel, that the simplicity of one’s life and the contentment one has for their life is the key to happiness.

Candido Rincon poor in life but, rich in values

Candido Rincon is introduced in the novel at his lowest point, only when he is sprawled in some roadside bushes after being hit by a car is he recognized as a protagonist. The desperate, pleading tone of the scene mirrors Candido’s bleak situation as though he is hurt, cannot receive medical treatment in fear of being deported, even while his face “looked like a fighter[‘s] on the losing end of a fifteen-round bout,” and his hip “drill[ed] him with pain every time he got to his feet (Boyle24).” He develops as a result of the despondency of the tone and the accident, because in desperate time Candido was forced too place all of his principles aside and let his wife, America “earn his keep (Boyle25).” This is such progressive development because switching gender roles questions his ability to provide for his family, his Mexican heritage (where traditional gender roles are still practiced), and above all his own masculinity.
Boyle’s omniscient point of view allows the reader to inhabit Candido’s subconscious and recognize any characteristic development the moment it takes place. One example of his development as a character are his instinctive reactions in times of disaster, he recalls that in all these situations “there was no time to think, only to react (boyle353).” Finally, at the end of the novel he proves himself once more as he saves Delaney, the white man who caused all his misery in the very beginning, who was caught in the mudslide and thrust his hand “grasping at the tiles, he (Candido) reached down and took hold of it (Boyle355).” This gesture evokes Candido’s forgiveness of the man, signals his change from grumbling, migrant worker to benevolent, courageous Samaritan, and dignifies him as a man rich in morality. Therefore, the language, the words, and the events in the novel propagate the fact that Candido must be studied from a deeper, nonjudgmental perspective, and appreciated for which he is: hard-working, loving, rather than for what he is: illegal, homeless, starving.

Being content is his purpose

• Mood, Theme, Irony- “I lie back and listen, as on another night I might listen to Mozart or Mendelsson, lulled by the impassioned beauty of it. The waterfall trickles. The coyotes sing. I have a handful of raisins and a blanket: what more could I want? All the world knows I am content (Boyle79).”
• Irony- “If she’d stayed in Tepoztlan all the gray days of her life she would have had enough to eat, as long as her father was alive and she jumped like a slave every time he snapped his fingers ( Boyle139).”
• Symbol- “Who can say what revolutionary purpose the coyote has in mind… Sadly, the backlash is brewing…he is only trying to survive, to make a living, to take advantage of the opportunities given to him… The coyotes keep coming, breeding up to fill in the gaps, moving in where the living is easy. They are cunning, versatile, hungry and unstoppable (Boyle211-215).
Irony is shown in America Rincon’s canyon camp because it shows that by hopping the border, she lost what she hoped to gain, and gained (homelessness, starvation) what she hoped to lose. Boyle’s purposefully used irony to show that the deeper meaning of the millions of illegal immigrants that are living in the United States right now is that they all have risked and some have lost everything for the American dream. For them, crossing the border was no midnight dare, but a legitimate chance to live in a land of liberty and justice. In contrast, the irony in Delaney’s trail campout is that although he has everything in the world he could dream of, becoming one with nature is his one true source of happiness. Therefore, the more complex meaning in their existences is that what Candido wants, Delaney has and what Candido has, Delaney wants.
In addition, Delaney’s contentment during his night in the woods illustrates the serene mood of the scene and Boyle’s overlying theme that by living simplistically and being content, happiness is easily attained.