Kevin Lee
Pirouzian
English 1H Period 2
7 September 2017
Directions: In order to keep a record of your reading and to concisely summarize important information, you will need to keep an accurate reading record. Please delete the directions and descriptions once you are ready to turn in final product. Each reading record should be typed (MLA Format) and include the following information: Title- The Tortilla Curtain
Author- T.C. Boyle
Genre- Fiction
Setting and Significance-
Where : Topanga Canyon
When: 1990
Point of View- Third Point Omniscient
Tone- Lifelike
Protagonist – Candino is a 30 year old male, who is Exhausted, Hopeful, Overworked.
Antagonist – Society, it has many ages and genders, and has characteristics of being racist and unaccepting.
External Conflict – Man vs. Society. Delany, the Topanga Community, Candido are involved in the conflict
Internal Conflict –
Man vs. Self. Delaney couldn’t choose between an open ended welcoming community/society, or a closed society for a certain group of people.
Protagonist’s Epiphany- Explain what the main character learns throughout the course of the novel. This lesson is usually something they learn about life or people. You should explain what they learn as well as how they learn this lesson.
Climax- The major turning point of the novel is when Topanga Canyon catches on fire. After this event life goes downhill for many of the characters such as Candido who loses his little bit of money and has to evacuate his
An epiphany is a sudden realization that changes everything for the main character. This sudden sense of clarity can be either good or bad. In James Joyce’s story, Araby, it is bad. The main character set out to impress his friend’s sister in order to win her heart. The boy, about 8 years old and partially blind, does not even know the name of the friend’s sister, leading the readers to address her as Mangan’s sister. Their encounters consist of the boy excessively stalking her and spying on her every move until finally walking by her without saying a word. His love for her is as juvenile as his age seeing that he cannot even talk to her and when he does it’s just awkward mumbling because he cannot think straight. He promises to buy her
In Tortilla Curtain, Candido and America have a very difficult time living in Los Angeles. Being illegal immigrants is harder than they thought. Delaney Mossbacher, a middle-class man, hit Candido Rincon, a Mexican immigrant, with his car as he was crossing the road. Candido was badly injured, but accepted twenty dollars from Delaney and ended up going their own ways. Delaney, his wife, and stepson, Jordan, live their routine life in a neighborhood called Arroyo Blanco. This incident left Candido battered and close to death. After the incident, Delaney went from liberal humanist to racist elitist. This incident also turned Candido from a diligent immigrant to an individual who commits crimes. Candido blamed having bad luck on his
The antagonist in the text is the surroundings. As they change when he walks in the streets of New York he develops into a
The plot in a fiction text is important in keeping the reader's attention. The majority of the story builds towards a climax. This climax is where the peak of action, suspense or thrill takes place, which then leads to the resolution of the story. As in "Lord of the Flies" the author continued to increase conflict between the boys until a full-scale war takes place, which is the climax. The building
According to the online Merriam-Webster dictionary and thesaurus, a definition for the word “epiphany” is a revealing scene or moment. Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 can easily be summarized as a man having multiple epiphanies about his life, society, the government, the importance of intellectual literature, and human nature. During the events of the book, a Fireman named Guy Montag (here I must make note of how firemen are now professional arsonists) is walking home from work when he meets a young girl, setting off a chain of epiphanies and permanently removing most of the effects the corrupt society has had on him.
Epiphanies are central to the plots of many novels. In the novel The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingslover, the main character, Taylor Greer, has an epiphany that changes the course of her life. After Turtle is traumatized in the park, Taylor withdraws from her and the rest of the world, believing that no nothing she does truly matters. As Turtle improves, Taylor realizes that her positive actions do make the world a better place. When Turtle begins to talk again, Taylor has an epiphany and realizes that every small compassionate action is important and that even she can help make the world a better place. As a result of her epiphany, Taylor is more willing to help others. The positive results of Taylor’s epiphany are first shown when she decides to fight for custody of
Briefly explain the circumstances surrounding the conflict. Specify what kinds of conflicts are taking place.
* Do a first reading that uses underlining, annotation, and summary to make sure you understand what the writer is saying. Go back to any sections that need clarification.
6. Due to Jennifer Government being written from a different character’s point of view every chapter, there are multiple climaxes. Hack Nike’s climax would be when his girlfriend, Violet, breaks up with him; but Hack and Violet’s sister, Claire, admit their love for each other almost immediately after. Once hack becomes acquaintances with Claire, he starts to have some self-respect and begins his battle against big business. Buy Mitsui’s climax could be his failed suicide attempt. After his failure, he called Jennifer Government for advice on how to make the gun shoot properly, for it wouldn’t work. Jennifer then rushed to his apartment and the two fell in love. Billy NRA’s climax is when he is meant to shoot the president from a hotel room, but is startled when Jennifer Government kicks in the door and he misses his target; followed by being arrested. However, the ultimate climax of the story is the final
One of the main conflicts in the story are man vs. society and man vs. himself..
Jack Jardine is a very interesting character in the story Tortilla Curtain. He has a very strong influence on Delany Mossbacher, one of the central characters in the story. His influences, along with the tragic string of events concerning Delany and Candido, produce a complete turn around in the ideals of Delany by the end of the story. At the start of the story Delany is a 'liberal humanist';, albeit a hypocritical one, but by the end of the story Delany is carrying a gun looking for Candido.
An epiphany is the sudden realization or manifestation of understanding, and in the "Story of an Hour," by Kate Chopin, a woman experienced an epiphany that ultimately had tragic results. The tragedy was foreshadowed in the first line when the narrator informed the reader of Mrs. Mallard's heart trouble and the problems it could bring when informing her of her husband's death. But instead of being the cause of tremendous sorrow, the death of her husband brought about a sudden realization of the freedom she would now have because she is no longer married and under the control of her husband. But Mrs. Mallard's epiphany, her realization of the freedom she'll now possess, became the cause of her tragedy. Just as she was beginning to enjoy the fruits of her epiphany, her heart trouble, which many believed would cause her trouble when the news of her husband's death reached her, actually caused her trouble when she suffered a heart attack brought on by joy.
After World War II, the United States of America became a much wealthier nation. As America gained wealth and the populations in urban cities and transportation technology increased, many Americans spread out, away from the urban cities, to fulfill the common dream of having a piece of land to call their own. The landscape constructed became known as the suburbs, exclusive residential areas within commuting distance of a city. The popularity and success of the suburban landscape caused suburbs to sprawl across the United States, from the east coast to the west coast and along the borders between Canada and Mexico. By the 1990s, many suburbs surrounding major urban cities developed into being more than merely exclusive residential areas.
An antagonist is a person who actively opposes or is hostile to someone or something.
“Climax: the third part of plot, the point at which the action stops rising and begins falling or reversing; also called turning point or peripeteia” (Mays A2).