The Tortilla Curtain Essay

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.

In the film “Mi Familia,” we follow the story of the Mexican-American Sánchez family who settled in East Los Angeles, California after immigrating to the United States. Gregory Nava and Anna Thomas introduce the story of this family in several contexts that are developed along generations. These generations hold significant historical periods that form the identity of each individual member of the family. We start off by exploring the immigrant experience as the family patriarch heads north to Los Angeles, later we see how national events like the great depression directly impact Maria as she gets deported, although she was a US citizen. The events that follow further oppress this family and begins separate identity formations. These

When reading through the different perspectives in Cristina Henriquez’s The Book of Unknown Americans, each perspective provides a different sense of emotion as each individual travels to the United States in search of the American dream. In Alma, Arturo, and Maribel’s case, the family travels in search of more adequate health care and better school systems to suit Maribel’s needs after her accident. By taking in their perspectives, it is nearly impossible not to root for their characters. Although immigration is such a pressing and more challenging topic to debate in the United States, the book raises the question of, “Wouldn’t you do the same for your family?” There are a numerous amount of influences in making this decision that tell what we should and should not believe when addressing this issue including family, friends, the media, politics, etc. With these influences, it is difficult to make an unbiased decision.

The racist connotation that Miss Jimenez associates with who she thinks would “fit in” society’s box is a definite reflection of the hardships Valdez witnessed in his community. For example, the Zoot Suit Riots that occurred in 1944 was rooted by a reaction by young Mexican-American males against a culture that did not want them to be a part of it. Stuart Cosgrove examines this issue when he states, "In the most obvious ways they had been stripped of their customs, beliefs and language.” (*Vargas 317) These youths were going through an identity crisis because they did not know which culture they could identify with. Miss Jimenez is a character that embodies that repression Valdez explains in “Los Vendidos.”

Viramontes uses shifting perspectives to provide insight into the experiences of each character as they seek to exist in a world that sets them apart as alien because of their illegal or immigrant status.The opening chapter explicitly revealed the dilemma of Estrella’s family and other families whose existence was crowned by perpetual struggle. Viramontes postulates, “The silence and the barn and the clouds meant many things. It

His poem, “Immigrant in Our Own Land,” focuses strongly on his culture and race, by revealing the false expectation of the “American Dream” for immigrants. Baca dives into deep topics such as; violence, gangs, dictatorship, and stereotypes. In the poem he tells a story of foreigners wanting to come to America, with “dreams in their hearts” (“Immigrants” 1) and a better lifestyle for them. However, as he goes on writing, the hopes of these immigrants are lost, and America is not as it seems. With the hope of rehabilitation, better education, and learning extra trades (“Immigrants” 2) all sweeped away from them, they fall back into the pattern of being grouped again by race. The whole reason these humans wanted to leave from their “old world” (“Immigrants” 1) was to get away from the cruelty, dictatorship, and false promises made to them; for new beginnings(“Immigrants” 3). Yet, Baca continues to list the unfair, unjustful conditions immigrants have to accommodate to in America. There are still bad conditions in living, racial problems, and gang influenced groups from just the hope of a “new world” for the foreigners. Baca proves his point by writing, “some will die and others will go on living without a soul, a future, or a reason to live” (“Immigrants” 6) Showing the underlining message of race and immigrants, and how he had to accept the conditions he

Every immigrant has a personal story, pains and joys, fears and victories, and Junot Díaz portrays much of his own story of immigrant life in “Drown”, a collection of 10 short stories. In each of his stories Diaz uses a first-person narrator who is observing others to speak on issues in the Hispanic community. Each story is related, but is a separate picture, each with its own title. The novel does not follow a traditional story arc but rather each story captures a moment in time. Diaz tells of the barrios of the Dominican Republic and the struggling urban communities of New Jersey.

“RG,” the entitled chapter of Oscar Casares’ Brownsville, presents a unique perspective of the division of culture and social respect that exists between Anglos and Hispanics within the Borderland communities. Moreover, throughout the analyzed passage, RG, the narrator, critiques his neighbor’s physical and macho appearance while simultaneously justifying his criticism to the audience. Furthermore, it becomes apparent throughout the paragraph that the narrator’s selected words are like weapons of “sharpen blades” (Casares 28) that are utilized to protect him from readers. The passage’s use of tone along with metaphorical concepts and sentence structures assists the unravelment of a deeper philosophical meaning within the narrator’s wording.

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

wide range of novels. The Tortilla Curtain stresses the negative treatment and harassment of illegal

Immigration is a big subject that is talked about a lot today. Many authors us immigration as a subject in their text to us different techniques. Many articles and novels use different ways to portray immigration. The red umbrella by Christina Diaz Gonzalez and “A band-aid for 800 children” by eli saslow, they both portray immigration in many similar and different ways.

In the United States of America immigration has become one of the most highly controversial topics to talk about. Helena Viramontes happens to be one of the many immigrants that immigrated from Mexico to the United States, more specifically, Los Angeles. Having lived in the barrios of Los Angeles Viratmontes’ work reflects the theme while expressing her thoughts on treatment on undocumented immigrants trying to better their lives. In the short story “The Cariboo Café”, Viramontes shows how immigration effects everyone as told from three different perspectives.

The novel, The Tortilla Curtain by T.C. Boyle, follow multiple points of view of different characters of varying backgrounds. Delaney and Kyra are upper middle class, liberal humanistic individuals who live ritualistic lifestyles. Candido and America are illegal immigrants from Mexico who have crossed the border in search of the American Dreams but only run into misfortune after misfortune. Delaney, a self-proclaimed liberal, is for immigrants and immigrant rights but his views become challenged once Candido is abruptly thrown into Delaney’s life to which even Delaney himself begins to question what he believes. Delaney is a self-proclaimed liberal humanist who has become a racist, and throughout the novel, he slowly progresses towards his

With the increase of Mexican immigrants present around Topanga Canyon, the residents of the suburban gated community, Arroyo Blanco, begin to feel as though their suburban space and spatial identities are being threatened. In an effort to combat that threat, the residents of Arroyo Blanco redefine their space and build a wall around their community. Through Arroyo Blanco's residents' Delaney and Kyra Mossbacher's experiences with Cándido Rincón, José Navidad, and the coyotes surrounding the Arroyo Blanco community of Topanga Canyon, Boyle conveys the futility of erecting walls as a way to preserve suburban space and suburban spatial identities in a post-suburban environment like Los Angeles.

The chapter starts with Delaney walking to his house relaxed, when all of a sudden, a car, moving very slowly, shines its high beam lights in Delaney's face . From the car comes the heavy beat of rap music. The car is strolling menacingly down Arroyo Blanco. Delaney then walks into his house and finds Kyra in bed thinking about their dead dog, Sacheravell. She still does not know that Delaney had found its paw. She finally gets it out of him through a series of begs and pleads. Then the chapter skips to Kyra going to the Matzoob's to show a house. Then she heads to the five houses that she has to close each night and she goes through the first four automatically. She gets to the last house, the Da Ros house, which is her favorite. It is huge