CCQC 2 Finn Brown

    Kyra's strange, secret, habitual desire to keep the Da Ros Place; an expensive, gigantic mansion she was trying to sell, is an obvious metaphor for the common, public and subconscious American belief that America will be sullied if a flood of immigration were to be allowed. This is demonstrated on page 216, where Boyle goes into detail of Kyra's perspective on the property. "The Da Ros Place was a white elephant. There was no way it was going to move in this market, unless at a significantly reduced price." Of course, Kyra didn't wish for the property to sell at all; it gave her a sense of power and wealth that was quite intoxicating for her. The Da Ros Place, a perfect symbol of wealth and prosperity, represents a virgin America, one without intrusion of foreign entities or masses of immigrants; but also the nagging truth behind every American's mind: That there are hundreds of thousands of people wishing to venture into America to make a name for themselves in the world are barred access, the sensation that a great injustice is being committed, and of course the easily remedied guilt. Americans are amongst the best in the world at covering up their guilt. And so Kyra continued to revel in the Da Ros Place, an example of American perfection.
   
    Delaney's column, Pilgrim at Topanga Creek, is a hypocritical almost blasé column about his experiences in nature. In one of his articles, he talks about his previous findings in nature, "I gaze round my study at the artifacts I've collected during my diurnal wanderings-the tail feathers of the Cooper's hawk, the trilobite preserved in stone since the time the ground beneath my feet was the bed of an ancient sea, the owl pellets, skeletons of mouse and kangaroo rat, the sloughed skin of the gopher snake-and my eye comes to rest finally on the specimen jar of coyote scat." (Page 211.) This column was written by Delaney shortly after a coyote stole and ate one of his dogs. Obviously, he was suspicious of the scat, wondering if it contained his former pet dog. This jar of feces represents much more than just the potential remains of Delaney's dead dog. It symbolizes the remains of an extinguished, used up America, invaded by immigrants and taken advantage of. The charred remains of a once vibrant forest; America's potential future. For Delaney, the connection was certainly unformed in his mind, the feces simply made him wonder. But for the sake of the book, Delaney's interest in the jar conveys meaning his character was unaware of.