Tortilla Curtain Analysis

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Tortilla Curtain Analysis The United States of America has always been seen as the land of the free, land of opportunist and land of the welcome. However in the novel, Tortilla Curtain, by T.C. Boyle, Boyle exploits the social distortion found in America. Boyle ingeniously unmasks the ridicule standards of diverse societal classes through remote rhetorical devices, ironical situations and juxtaposed principles. He intends to focus on a specific state, southern California, for its diversity among the social-economic classes. In the novel, Boyle deliberates southern California as the mirror coating the rest of America and its prestigious land. Tortilla Curtain is a novel that projects an in depth analysis of the social unbalance in southern California, in all aspects. Boyle examines factors as immigration, racism/discrimination and ethnic classes and their effect on society, as they tend to misconstrue a simple misunderstanding of the common ground they share and the American dream they aspire. In the novel, Tortilla Curtain, Boyle tackles on the immigration issue that stretches beyond the vertical and horizontal natural borders. Boyle juxtaposes two different ideas through the eyes of both Candido Rincon and Delaney Mossbacher. Candido interprets the border as a life-defining barrier in his immigrant life that he must overcome in order to achieve a better life. On the other hand, Delaney conceptualizes the border as the physical obstruction that separates “them” from him. Throughout the novel, Boyle makes use of situational irony, on the where bouts of wanting to kick them out of the country for crossing the borders and its gate, yet they get paid for building those borders and gates. Furthermore, Boyle carries on the notion of how Americans despise illegal immigrants, more specific Mexicans, for being in their “American” country, with “American” values, and
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