The Tortilla Curtain

Chris Farley English A Wilson October 30, 2010 TC Essay In the novel, The Tortilla Curtain, by T. C. Boyle a couple experiences life in California and never know whats going to happen. They find out life as they thought it would be, really isn’t how they imagined. They go through some great hardships that will forever change their lives and change their thoughts on things. Candido and America went through the most hardest times in this novel, they are illegel immigrants, they have no money, and Candido turns into a criminal doing all he can to survive. They came to the United States in hope of fulfilling their dreams.When they got here they thought they would be able to make a life for themselves and be able to live happily. Their views on that really changed when they had no place to live and hardly any food to eat. Being illegal immigrants there was really not much that they could do about food, money, a real job, and a place to live and call their home. He had to allow Amer ica to go and try and get work from the labor exchange when she made a very clear point when she said â€Å"We have maybe a cup or rice left, half a twelve-ounce sack of dry beans, six corn tortillas, no eggs, and no milk†(28).At this point Candido lost some of his pride and his manhood and he had no idea what he could to do earn it back. There was no way that Candido could have got a decent job and earn the house that he had promised his wife America before they came here seeing as he was illegal. He had promised her a house that was described as â€Å"A clean white one made out of lumber that smelled like the mountains, with a gas range, a refrigerator, and maybe a little yard for a garden and a place for the chickens†(28-29).He had to allow America to go and try and get work from the labor exchange when she made a very clear point when she said â€Å"We have maybe a cup or rice left, half a twelve-ounce sack of dry beans, six corn tortillas, no eggs, and no milkâ⠂¬ (28). With everything already being as bad as it was, America was pregnant and how would he be able to provide for his wife and his baby when she was born? Later in the novel it comes to a part where Candido and America leave their camp in the canyon and head for the city.Once they are there they come across a guy who asked them if they needed a place to stay, saying his aunt’s house was just around the corner. The guy led him into a trap where they beat him up and as he says â€Å"They got everything, every penny† (234). He fell for the trap and it made him think that he could not really trust anyone else but himself and his wife. There was no way that they could have gotten anything now and they had to make their way back into the camp in the canyon that they had left in the first place.Once Thanksgiving came around Candido had gotten a little bit of work and while he was at the market he was given a turkey. When he returned with the turkey they had fixed it all up so they could try and cook it. While that was all happening the flames from the fire had leapt to the trees and everything went up in a blaze. After they managed to get away from the fire and after they had a drink from the chinamans water hose they found themselves in a clump of bushes. While laying there Candido heard a noises from the leaves around them and in that instant America whispered to him â€Å"I think my water broke.The baby’s coming I can’t help it†(278). He had no idea what he was doing when he was delivering his baby, after all they were in the maintence shed and he had to make do with what was there. After the baby was born, it was time for them to move out of the shed and Candido had to make a house out of what he could. He finally made it out of some pallets that were held together with some nails. He turned into a criminal and was stealing dog dishes, dog food, and among other things. At this point he was climbing into peoples backyards an d taking what he needed.He happened to take a piece of green plastic from a greenhouse that one of them managed to have in their yards for his roof. After he made several trips to make something out of what he had he finally brought America and even though she didn’t want to be there she had no choice. While he was hungry he was thinking that some stew would be good and out of nowhere the cat appeared(Delaney’s cat) and Candido called out to it â€Å"Here kitty†(308). America wanted to know what was next after all of that and she asked Candido and he shrugged and said â€Å"I’ll find work I guess†(323).She made up her mind and told him â€Å"I want to go home and I don’t care if you come or not, it’s you they want not me. You’re the one†(323). She did not want to raise her daughter like that and Candido couldn’t do anything about their situation at all. He stood by the post office for hours trying to attract the a ttention of every pickup that pulled into the lumberyard, but he had no luck at all. He was making his way back to America when he noticed that someone was on the shoulder of the road up ahead.It was Delaney that was off on the side of the road and Candido froze. As he was thinking about the accident all over again he heard Delaney shout â€Å"You stay right there! †(331). Candido had made himself back to America and their little makeshift home, not realizing he was being followed by Delaney. Once he came in America told him that it looked like he saw a ghost and he responded with â€Å"I wish it was only a ghost†(349). He told her â€Å"it was the one with the red hair who hit me with his car, he scares me†(349).After eating and his clothes dried up America had told him that there was something wrong with Socorro’s eyes and she couldn’t see. Candido thought she was crazy and didn’t want to believe that his baby was blind. In that next insta nce Delaney appeared from nowhere and he held a gun but then he dropped it once he heard the roar of what was happening. Their homemade house fell to nothing and crumbled within the flood. They rode a pallet all the way down to the roof of the post office and that is when it hit Candido hard. He asked America â€Å"Where’s the baby? †(355) and she didn’t answer him.He was â€Å"numbed right through to the core†(355) and in that moment he saw the white face come up through the dark water and he reached down and took a hold of it. He saw that his baby girl Socorro was gone, lifeless and nothing could have changed that no matter how much he cursed about it and got angry. That was the worst thing that he could have had happen to him and he was angry, angry that his daughter would never be able to live the way he wanted her to and the way they should have lived. Candido and America went through a great deal of hardship over this novel and no one deserves to li ve like that.They had to make changes so that they could live and be able to try and live for what they came to the U. S. for. Neither of them got the dream life that they imagined but America sure grew from the experience. You can say that Candido was able to learn that your dreams in life don’t come as easy as you thought they would. You are going to have to make some kind of plan for life so you can go from that and know what you are doing.Works Cited Boyle, T. Coraghessan. The Tortilla Curtain. New York: Penguin Group, 1995. Print. The Tortilla Curtain In Part II, Chapter 3 of The Tortilla Curtain, Delaney’s life finally feels like it is returning back to normalcy. He is preparing a barbeque on a Sunday evening in mid-August, while his wife, Kyra is stretched out by the pool relaxing, but her work still by her side. They ate their dinner and began conversation about how she, â€Å"Kyra† had cleaned up Shoup, by telling Mike, her boss, that something need to be done or people would stop house shopping up here. Delaney began daydreaming about a meeting with Jack Jardine and a few of his neighbors. It was his first time meeting Dominick Flood and learning of his house confinement. The main agenda for the meeting was to disgust the wall the neighbors wanted to put up to keep the intruders out. To this Delaney was in complete shock. Upon returning from his daydream, the scene of yet another one of his dogs, Osbert, being swept up by the coyote in front of their eyes this time was of complete surprise. Delaney is definitely one that dominates Part II, Chapter 3 of The Tortilla Curtain. Delaney is still considered the liberal humanist, who believes in nature and feels that everyone should have right whether legal or illegal, but you can start to see him slowly evolve into a more reactionary racist, fueled by his anger of the accident and everything happening to him. Delaney has openness to anything around him such as his work but yet he is conscientiousness of everything that he does and what his family does. You see Delaney changing in this chapter by words he is using such as this statement he made to Kyra, â€Å" â€Å"Mexicans,† Delaney said, and there was no hesitation anymore, no reluctance to identify people by their ethnicity, no overlay of liberal-humanist guilt. Mexicans, there were Mexicans everywhere. † Kyra is conscientiousness about everything that she does, whether it being how her work has to be just perfect for the clients or how Jordan has to eat exactly what she wants him to eat. She is also an extraversion. She has so much energy and positive emotions that she puts into her job as a realtor. At the end of Part II, Chapter 3 of The Tortilla Curtain, I feel that Kyra is starting to feel like she is losing control over things in her live. First, Sacheverell and now Osbert has been captured by the coyote that she can’t seem to control by putting up a fence. THEME Immigrants â€Å"Mexicans† need to be stopped is one theme in this chapter. Kyra has had enough and she doesn’t want the scene of so many of them being seen by the 7-eleven on the boulevard as potential home buyers are driving by. She believes that’s the sort of thing they’re moving away from and she wants a good impression on the neighborhood. Another Theme in Part II, Chapter 3 in The Tortilla Curtain, is walls of privacy. The community of Arroyo Blanco Estates wants to protect itself from intruders on their land and community. They don’t feel safe anymore since the attack on Sunny DiMandia. They want to keep people that don’t live there out and they feel that putting up a wall will keep people and unwanted creatures out as well. A wall is a barrier to keep people and things out as well as to keep people and things in.