CCQC's 2 - Adrienne

Through the apocalyptic metaphor of walls represented in Tortilla Curtain, a barrier is provided in which society reflects the ways one must cross boundaries to survive creating a growing sense of vulnerability, confusion, and powerlessness. Crossing the wall, doesn’t mean just crossing a literal border or boundary, it portrays a meaning much deeper than that. In this simulated society the walls represent the endeavor it takes to break past them. This struggle to cross these “walls” or “barriers” that continue to penetrate certain characters add to the overall sense of confusion, vulnerability, and powerlessness. We see the way in which the wall becomes a metaphor for the citizens living in Arroyo Blanco. The wall is a way in which they can hide behind their fears, and block out something they simply have the impatience to deal with. The metaphor is further extended when we witness the coyote entering Arroyo Blanco for a second time; "We cannot eradicate the coyote, nor can we fence him out, not even with eight feet of chain link, as this sad but wiser pilgrim can attest. Respect him as the wild predator he is, keep your children and pets inside, leave no food source, however, negligible, where he can access it...The coyotes keep coming, breeding up to fill in the gaps, moving in where the living is easy. They are cunning, versatile, hungry, and unstoppable"(214-215). The coyote directly parallels the immigrants and the way in which they “keep coming” and there is no way to keep them out. It demonstrates the strife the immigrants must make to cross that wall, with intrigue so great it pulls either sides of the wall to face their fears and reflect upon each other. This only leads to more confusion, vulnerability, and powerlessness between the two separate worlds.  

Through a plethora of unfortunate events, Delaney develops the racist opinion towards the immigrants, especially the Mexicans. In the beginning of Tortilla Curtain Delaney is tolerant of the immigrants, but as particular events unfurl, Delaney’s permissive attitude begins to morph into an austere racist. Paranoia begins to command the lifestyle of Delaney, and he cannot escape. In the midst of a hike Delaney can only think of his new car and, “Suddenly, without thinking, he sank into the brush no more than a hundred yards from the road. He could see the car glittering in the sunlight through the stalks and branches of the vegetation that lined the trail. He was being paranoiac, that was all---you couldn’t hold on to everything could you? He knew that, but for the moment he didn’t care. He was just going to sit here, sit here through the afternoon hidden in the bushes, sit here and watch”(155). This paranoia and malaise is brought on, claims Delany, by the immigrants living in his community. Instead of searching for solutions, like most, Delaney turns towards blaming others. Things only deteriorate when Kyra arrives home one day to find Pinche Puta written on the wall of their home. Upon Delaney finding out, he comes to his own contemplation, concluding, “a vision then of all the starving hordes lined up at the border, of the criminals and gangbangers in their ghettos, of the whole world a ghetto and no end to it, and he felt the pendulum swing back at him”(227). He begins to see the world as only bad, and everything and everyone is out to get him. Without being able to negate the image from his mind, the hapless actions of Delaney continue.