The Tortilla Curtain, By. Boyle

Racial segregation and mutual hate between two races can be a vicious circle that can have grievous consequences for both parts. One often knows that these types of conflicts never end well. Nevertheless, it does not discourage people from fighting amongst themselves and the abhorrence stays continuous and endless due to strong mistrust and ignorance. Jack Davis depicts this in the short story “Pay Back” from 1990, which portrays a typical situation between two groups of people who do not have enough information about each other and thus seek to fight against each other.

Currently there is six million Natives living in between the United States and Canada, and only "25,000 Blackfoot Indians between the two countries"(Reddish). In the short story "Borders" by Thomas King, the treatment of natives is shown to light in a common practice. While trying to cross the United States-Canada border to visit her oldest daughter in Salt Lake City, Utah, a woman and her youngest son, of Blackfoot Indian decent, are stopped at the border. She is questioned about her nationality and calmly states "I am Blackfoot, neither American or Canadian"(King, 918). She is not allowed to enter the United States nor Canada and is stuck in a neutral zone. News channels and Newspapers cover this story as the bureaucratic dilemma ensued, many people were shocked with the treatment of Native Americans. They are eventually allowed to pass through to the United States, however this leaves many people wondering about the treatment of Natives Americans, which King displays through conflict.

Defining someone by their skin color is an everyday phenomenon. Many people see a specific shade of skin and believe they know exactly how that person is going to speak, carry, and illustrate themselves. It seems to be embedded in one’s head at a young age to have specific views given by family, friends, and coworkers such as, believing interracial relationships are immoral, or it being acceptable to judge others according to their skin color. In the articles “Race is a Four Letter Word” by Teja Arboleda and “Mr. Z” by M. Carl Holman, the color of the authors skin plays a substantial role on how they are treated and perceived. Living in a society that doesn’t understand one’s culture can make their life extremely difficult.

In David Brooks’ “People Like Us” passage on the issue of diversity, Brooks takes a personally emotional perspective of the way in which Americans don’t appreciate how diverse our nation is while “relatively homogeneous” (Brooks 136). His argument is weakened, however, through a bias and hypocrisy that his diction conveys. He claims that grouping ourselves with those who we are most alike is in our nature to, and in doing so, we separate ourselves from those who are different. Using certain statistics as evidence, Brooks points out that the social segmentation created by society will always exist.

A fine line is drawn between whether a person is “right” or “wrong”, “innocent or guilty” solely based on one factor. When people interact in a social environment, they tend to be tense and anxious around those from another racial group. To which having a mentality of posturing an inappropriate comment or action may cause offense or discomfort to the other. Those who take part in another person’s culture will later express fewer prejudices toward members of that ethnic group. To what is considered a “black sheep” in a herd, they are often ostracized from society and are not wanted; however, some people accept differences in individuals for the good of society to the extent of achieving tolerances as seen by Atticus’ interactions with Tom Robinson in Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, along with Juror 3’s viewpoint of the jury in Rose’s 12 Angry Men, and Sergei’s dilemma in What, of this, Goldfish, Would you Wish? by Keret.

modules gives many examples how strong cultural pasts lead to identity problems in a new society. Also, the module shows us that many Mexicans were not happy with the stereotype formed about their identity. In Between the Lines, we see how Mexicans in America suffer through harsh discrimination, while trying to stay close to their relatives and culture. The letters talk about how Whites did not have concerns with family values or cultural beliefs. Whites based many of their values off succeeding in the economy. Whites in general had no regard for Mexicans as people.

A 2009 study by Phillippa Lally, a health psychology researcher at UCL, entitled ‘How long does it take to form a habit’, found that on average it takes 66 days for a habit or thought to become ingrained. This can be from different influences that are seen around and done to people. Us as humans grow mostly from personal experience, for better or for worse. In this case, it is for worse. Delaney Mossbacher, one of the main characters, is an average white male living in a small estate called Arroyo Blanco, where most of the wealthy and middle class live. The fact that he lives there makes it easier for him to have the mindset that he should act and be his social status, which is the “better than everyone” attitude. In the novel, the Tortilla Curtain by T.C Boyle, Delaney Mossbacher’s point of view shifts from a liberal to a racist due to courses of “unlucky” events. Those events being him hitting Candido Rincon with his car, getting his dog taken

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.

Tortilla Flat, by John Steinbeck is a humorous novel about a group of friends called the paisanos. Tortilla Flat is just one of Steinbeck’s many successful novels. Indeed, Steinbeck is said to be one of the most influential of the twentieth century American writers (Williams). Tortilla Flat was a best seller, and was awarded the Gold Medal of the Commonwealth Club of California in 1935 (Williams). Steinbeck’s successful writing career did not end with Tortilla Flat as Steinbeck went on to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1962, making him one of only six American writers to win the Nobel Prize in Literature

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

Is wanting a better life a crime? Does everyone not deserve the right for a better life and to be considered a human being despite the means that they used to try and get it? In this novel The Tortilla Curtain, by T.C.Boyle he brings up the theme of racism that is constant towards those who are struggling for a better life even if it’s through illegal means. He shows this by using main character Delaney Mossbacher a Caucasian self-proclaimed liberal humanist, Candido Rincon a Mexican illegal immigrant and their families (Boyle 3). Boyle starts the novel off with Delaney running someone over and first worrying about the car before thinking of this stranger who could be dead. There’s also other characters that see illegal immigrants as less

The phenomenon of race has unique facades. It is one of the most controversial bases for classifying human beings. Issues that spot racial perspectives are always hotly contested. Race is constructed from many social, cultural, political, or religious circumstances. Racial sentiments are born out of and fuelled by one or more such circumstances. In the light of this, there are several ways in which race could be constructed. These are essentially ways in which racial groupings are brought together. A specific racial group could be accorded unity through solidarity aimed at bringing them together for the sake of combating any negative collectively circumstances plaguing them. If a racial group has to grapple with a collective issue, there might

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.

Everyone around the world, no matter of racial and identity, is holding his or her own dreams. And at many times, people from different backgrounds are holding similar dreams about life. Especially during the period when the issue of illegal immigration appears to the surface, the period when the idea of American Dream also thrives among people’s mind, similarities among different racial groups are realized. During that time, many literary works are appeared to illustrate such similarities between people with different racial backgrounds. Such as in T. C. Boyle’s novel, The Tortilla Curtain, two women from different racial and ethnic groups, share similar characteristics and chase similar dreams.

Many circumstances oblige people to move from their native country to a foreign one. From this movement of migration have emerged many ethnic groups. An ethnic group is a restraint number of persons living in a larger society and sharing the same distinct cultural heritage. Some people tend to bury their habits and accommodate to the new way of life. However others hold on to their identity and try to identify their race and maintain it. This enriches societies and makes them multi-racial. Therefore, every ethnic group is essential to complete the mosaic. Although they are sometimes threatened, minorities must fight to preserve their principles. Why must they fight? Because racial identification has many positive impacts on the members.