Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
The Tortilla Curtain: Domestic Fiction - Coggle Diagram
The Tortilla Curtain: Domestic Fiction
Themes
The American Dream
No matter who you are, the "American Dream" is unattainable.
Hatred/Racism
As the reader gets further into the book, they can see the hatred/racism growing in one of the families and the suffering from it in the other family.
Jack Jardine says, "the ones coming in through the Tortilla Curtain down there, those are the ones that are killing us.They're peasants my friend. No education, no resources, no skills - all they've got to offer is a strong back, and the irony is we need fewer and fewer strong backs everyday because we've got robotics and computers and farm machinery that can do the labor of a hundred men at the fraction of a cost."
Luck
Both of the men in this story are convinced that the world is against them which only makes it harder on them in the end.
Character Development
Kyra Mossbacher
Kyra is Delaney's wife. She has been hateful throughout the book but it grows towards the end.
Delaney Mossbacher
Delaney is Kyra's husband. In the beginning, he was a peaceful liberal. By the end he was a hateful racist.
Candido Rincon
Candido is America's husband. He starts to lose faith throughout the book. He always talks bad about the white people, but saves Delaney in the end.
America Rincon
America is Candido's wife. She remained optimistic throughout the book. She began to voice her needs towards the end.
Setting
Los Angeles
The canyon
The canyon is where Candido and America lived for most of the time. It was on the outside of the neighborhood. They had a creek, a campfire, boulders, and some trees.
Arryo Blanco Estates
Arryo Blanco Estates is a rich neighborhood where Delaney and Kyra lived. It was right next to the canyon. A wall is put up around the neighborhood to keep Mexicans out about two thirds of the way through the book.
Symbolism: the wall and the coyotes.
The wall symbolizes the hatred towards the Mexican immigrants because it is used to keep them out. The coyotes represent the Mexican immigrants because they streal (the dogs' lives) from the Mossbachers.
Simile
"His brain decoded the image: a coyote had somehow managed to get into the enclosure and seize one of the dogs, and there it was, wild nature, up and over the fence as if this were some sort of circus act."
Author's Purpose/History
The author's purpose was to make the reader aware of the struggles that some people go through. This book allows the reader to compare the "struggles" of the rich and the struggles of the poor. The reader can see how the hatred and racism affects both families.
This book was written about the "Tortilla Curtain" Incident from 1978-1979 that occurred in El Paso, Texas. The purpose of it was to impede illegal immigration.