Delaney The Tortilla Curtain

(Zoot Suit 1355) When Tommy says “hung around”, he refers to him spending time with his friends, who happens to be Mexican that caused him to be locked up in jail. By saying that he didn’t do “half the things” indicates that the fact that he and his friends are Mexican clouded the police’s judgement of perceiving Tommy and his friends as criminals that caused them to be arrested. Tommy is frustrated from the thought that he got in jail for being Mexican. This quote reflects back to the thesis because it shows how Luis Valdez demonstrates the PIC as being unjustified for targeting people of other races for crimes.

“My grandparents didn’t come all the way from Germany just to see it get taken over by immigrants. Not on my watch.” (Donald Trump). The thinking of aA privileged American, one such as Donald Trump, who has the net worth of four billion dollars, wouldn’t know the challenges that immigrants experience. The Bean Trees, by Barbara Kingsolver, highlights some of the many issues immigrants face when living in America. In The Bean Trees, the character Taylor decides to makes a life changing decision to leave her hometown for good. However, she had acquired a child, whom she names Turtle, and she is suddenly faced with the hardness of a mother in a land filled with social injustices that is constantly tripping her. She is able to overcome the obstacles

Boyle draws a distinct line between the troubles of first-world citizens and people simply trying to survive. By using satire in the novel, Boyle makes the reader rethink their values and points out the holes in logic some are not willing to face. In Tortilla Curtain, the lives of multiple characters are followed to create one intertwined story. The first character one meets is Delaney Mossbacher.

The Book of Unknown Americans, by Cristina Henriquez reveals the struggles that many immigrants face when coming to the U.S., focusing on the story and experiences of the Riviera family. The Rivieras moved the the U.S. to get a special education for their daughter, Maribel, who had serious brain damage. Previously in Mexico, Maribel fell off of a ladder and injured her brain, causing her to have mental instability. This moment changed the lives of the Riviera family, especially Alma and Arturo, Maribel's parents. After the accident, Arturo was quick to blame Alma for it, placing a strain on their relationship and obstructing their honesty with each other.

To many people, the United States is more than just a country; it’s a place of ideals. To some, those ideals are liberty and freedom. To others, the American Dream is democracy and unity between all people. Many people, especially immigrants, see the many opportunities that America offers as its greatest ideal. House of Sand and Fog, by Andre Dubus III, focuses extensively on economic opportunity, telling the tale of former Iranian Colonel, Massoud Behrani. Behrani hopes to strike it rich in the real estate market with a home he bought, so he can work towards restoring his family’s honor. Sadly, his dreams fall flat and his entire family ends up dead. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, by Jamie Ford, is about social opportunity America can offer. A young Chinese boy named Henry Lee becomes good friends with a Japanese girl named Keiko during World War II, despite that their people have long been enemies. When the government sends Keiko and her family away to an internment camp, Henry is separated from perhaps his only friend. Both House of Sand and Fog and Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet discuss the opportunities that America offers, and how sometimes these opportunities fail people.

La Linea is a novel about crossing borders. The protagonists literally cross the borders of Guatemala and the US. Crossing the Guatemalan border has no importance, because this border does not carry meaning for them. Only the American border is a symbol of hope, a better future, and reunion with their parents. However, during their strenuous trip through the desert, they do not even notice when they cross the border. “I always thought I’d know exactly the moment I crossed the border. [...] How could I not have felt something?” (96) Miguel is shocked because he confused the physical border with the symbolic border. The novel ends before the reader could see how Miguel and Elena deal with the cultural border they crossed. We only know that they came to the US without knowing anything about the culture. Elena returns to Mexico, probably because she was not happy in her new environment. The siblings also

Esperanza’s neighborhood, home only to Mexican-American families, is separated from the rest of society. Many parents of these families were raised in Mexico, and although their children now reside in America, they still expect them to continue to practice the traditions of their initial culture. Esperanza, like many other young Hispanics, is thrown into this situation along with her siblings. She tries to balance holding on to the customs of her family with fitting in at school and among her peers. Despite her efforts to blend in, the severity of the segregation causes both the American and Mexican cultures to conflict each other. Esperanza senses the grudge between the two cultures and tells readers that “those who don’t know any better come into our neighborhood scared. They think we are dangerous. They think we will attack them with shiny knives” (28). The Mexican-Americans in Esperanza’s community are regarded as lower class and threatening to the rest of society. As a result of this labeling, Esperanza will never be completely like her white American peers. The amount of influence coming from her home culture changes her in a way that is so unlike the Americans that she gives up trying to fit in. Instead, she decides to take the best of each culture and create her own way of living. To conclude, this novel distinctly explores the theme of two different cultures striving to mix together.

The tortilla curtain is a wonderful book showing a typical life of both a Hispanic family chasing the American and a white family that is born in. The white wealthy stay at home father Delaney mossbacher is faced against life as a modern day America and an immigrant from Mexico, Candido rincon looking for nothing but to fulfill the American dream that for him and his young wife which begins to seem unreachable due to the constant troubles begin to face. These two character throughout the story show very similar traits both positive and negative, while both sharing ways they overcome struggles of living life in modern day America. Both being fathers and/or soon to be fathers, how they

Immigrants constantly face racial prejudices unknown to the privileged. These immigrants are only trying to have a life for themselves and/or for their children. My Antonia by Willa Cather entails the trials and tribulations of those who seek success told through the perspective of Jim Burden. The novel consists of people out of the country wanting a better life for themselves; That's what they want most of all. The immigrants that Jim comes to know go through hardships that they overcome to finally become successful in the end.

At the start of Chapter three of The Tortilla Curtain, Arroyo Blanco is described as “a private community, comprising a golf course, ten tennis courts, a community center and some two hundred and fifty homes, each set one one-point-five acres and strictly conforming to the covenants, conditions, and restrictions set forth in the 1973 articles of incorporation” (Boyle 30). The aforementioned passage shows Arroyo Blanco to be a typical middle-class American suburban community. The residents of Arroyo Blanco, like Delaney and Kyra Mossbacher, construct their identities around the suburban space. Delaney's identity is shown to

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

By the time that Delaney confronts Cándido on the side of the road, all traces of liberalism and equality for all are banished from his mind. The sight of Cándido on the side of the road was enough to send him over the edge into complete bigotry, and he calls the police simply because Cándido is there. He does not even attempt to give the poor man the benefit of the doubt - all he wants to see is him suffer, suffer for the stealing of his car, for his ruined hikes, and for the starting of the fire. This confrontation is the climax of the novel because after this, everything changes. It is at this point that we see a completely changed Delaney.

Cristina Henriquez’, The Book of Unknown Americans, folows the story of a family of immigants adjusting to their new life in the United States of America. The Rivera family finds themselves living within a comunity of other immigrants from all over South America also hoping to find a better life in a new country. This book explores the hardships and injustices each character faces while in their home country as well as withina foreign one, the United States. Themes of community, identity, globalization, and migration are prevalent throughout the book, but one that stood out most was belonging. In each chacters viewpoint, Henriquez explores their feelings of the yearning they have to belong in a community so different than the one that they are used to.

Also, Delaney has a love for nature that causes him to fight whoever thinks of destroying it. When he sees the remains of campsites by others, he gets angry at the only people he thinks could possibly do this: the Mexicans. This anger only adds to his underlying racism towards them, causing him to lash out at Cándido

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.