Literature Analysis

*The Tortilla Curtain, by T.C. Boyle is a novel about a man named Candido Rincon and his much younger wife, America, who entered the United States illegally, dreaming of a better life in California. Unfortunately, they are homeless and camping at the bottom of a hill in a national park. Another couple, Delaney and Kyra live in a gated community. Delaney is a writer and Kyra is a successful real estate agent. The two couples’ paths crossed unexpectedly after Delaney hit Candido with his car. They both decide not to call the police for certain reasons, but from that moment on, the two couples are constantly influenced by the one another.
After the accident Candido wasn’t able to get a job because of his injury. This causes many problems and even brings him shame. He is unable to feed his wife, who is pregnant. Candido tries to find a job in the city and even America finds a job, which can be very dangerous. Delaney’s family also has problems, but not as big. They struggle with a coyote running lose and potentially criminal, illegal aliens.
One night Candido causes a huge forest fire that reaches the gated community. In the midst of escaping the fire, America gave birth to their daughter Socorro. They hid in Delaney’s shack and their America confesses that she was raped one night and she things that might have caused the baby to become blind. Delaney is about to enter with a gun and confront them when the shack is knocked over by a landslide. America and Candido survived, but sadly the baby drowned in the river. The novel ends with Candido saving Delaney from drowning in the river.

*The theme of this novel is the fear and hatred towards foreigners.

*The author’s tone for this novel is very serious and sad. Boyle includes nothing but serious and sad events.
“He couldn’t seem to control his hands. ‘I’ve had an accident,’ he said to himself, repeating it over and over like a mantra, ‘I’ve had an accident.”
“It was crazy to refuse treatment like that, just crazy. But he had. And that meant he was illegal- go to the doctor, get deported.”
“A gabacho sat on the sidewalk with his long hair and begged for change and the sight of him struck her with terror: if he had to beg in his own country, what chance was there for her?”
*Boyle uses many different literary elements and techniques to express his theme and clarify his tone. Boyle uses imagery, diction, symbols, foreshadowing, and allegories. He is very descriptive throughout his entire novel and uses well-known vocabulary in order to have his entire audience understand what is being expressed.
“Everywhere he turned he saw those red-flecked eyes, the rictus of the mouth, the rotten teeth and incongruous shock of gray in the heavy black brush of the mustache- they infested his dreams, cut through his waking hours like a window on another reality.” ---Imagery
”He was dreaming still, dreaming with his eyes open, images shuffled like cards in a deck till he didn’t know what was real and what wasn’t” ---Diction
“Money had changed hands. There were no witnesses and the man was gone, out of his life forever.” ---Symbols
“And what about fire danger? The canyon was a tinderbox this time of year, everyone knew that.” --- Foreshadowing
“And Candido, despite his exhaustion, despite everything, began dragging the big balky sheet of plastic up through the unyielding brush, and as the branches tore at him and his fingers stiffened and the helicopters swooped overhead, he thought of Christ with his cross and his crown of thorns and wondered who had it worse.” ---Allegory