Delaney's conversation with Kenny Grissom about his own accident is a metaphor for the powerlessness of many immigrants. After Delaney hit Candido, he was at first desperate and worrisome of the damage he could have done, but is instantly calmed by the man's complexion and 'bronze face.' He knew at the moment he saw the victim's face that he would be okay, that he didn't have to worry about his wrongdoings, or insurance lawsuits or any of these issues. This is simply because he knew the man had no social power or standing to use as a weapon against him. After he paid the man a mere twenty dollars, he drove to the Acura dealership to repair the headlight knocked out of the socket. During this time, he lied about what he hit, saying "A dog, I think it was. Might have been a coyote, but kind of big for a coyote. Must have been a dog. Sure it was. Yeah. A dog." He had no guilt, no remorse for his greedy paying of twenty dollars. During his conversation, the dealer talks about his encounter with a dog in Arizona. "I hit a dog once, when I was living out in Arizona? It was this big gray shaggy thing, a sheepdog, I guess it was ... we kind of looked and there's no blood or anything, just a stump. Friggin' thing only had three legs to begin with, no wonder he couldn't get out of the way!" This is like modern Immigrants from Mexico; they have no legal power, they have little money, and they have no relevant education by the standards of the country they so desperately wish to benefit from. Delaney's stance on the issue with his wife, again, echoes the same sentiment of entitlement. "He's gone, he went away. I have him twenty bucks ... I told you -he was Mexican." Like the three legged dog, some of these immigrants like Candido, are dead in the water, trapped in a country that despises them and poorer than ever. This only makes the public outlook on them harsher and more hateful, as portrayed many times over in the book.
In Tortilla Curtain, all the xenophobic actions taken by the American citizens are rooted in fear. This fear has spanned for centuries, beginning when new age immigrants from Southern Europe and Eastern Asia began to flood in by the millions. The 'Old immigrants' resisted, and gave as much resistance as they could originally. This is identical to the way Americans treat Mexican immigrants in the modern day. This fear is expressed in a metaphor detailing Delaney's subconscious worry. "Over breakfast, he'd watched a pair of starlings crowding out the wrens and finches at the bird feeder, and suddenly an idea came to him: why not do a series of sketches on introduced species?" In North America, the European Starling was introduced accidentally and has since spread like a wildfire across the continent, outcompeting native counterparts and pushing them into smaller pockets and driving them to possible extinction. This sums up the utter terror that many upper-middle-class residents in Southern California feel about the wave of immigrants. They worry that they will outcompete, and drive the rich, white class of people into smaller areas with their economic success and willingness to labor away at menial jobs without complaint. Like the European Starling, this new type of person, willing to lower their self-worth to the point of scrubbing budda statues day in, day out has and will continue to spread across America, and along with it the fear of overcrowding; being shoved out and smothered by the incoming barrage of willing immigrant labor. Like Delaney, this issue inhabits many people's subconscious, and taints their every action involving the group in question, and justifies horrible misdeeds and foul play. The fear will never go away, it has been, for lack of a better word, bred into American DNA, and we will never be able to rid ourselves of it.
Wow, good job Finn. I actually found it hard to say anything, looks like you covered it all. But even so, I think that we may be able to see, in your second CCQC, a direct correlation to the fears of people, most often associated with the Republican party. I find this particularly ironic because Delany and Kyra are people of more liberal thought. "Their memberships included the Sierra Club, Save the children, the National Wildlife Federation and the Democratic Party." (34) This fear, that you described in your post above seems to drive us to callousness, especially in the lower classes, where menial jobs, such as construction and gardening, are much more easily filled by people who are not US citizens. For US citizens, there are unions, minimum wages, and courts to make sure that they are treated well. To an illegal immigrant, the courts are the places they want to avoid at all costs, giving them a subordinate place, and making them easier to hire for employers who just need someone to pull their weight.
ReplyDeleteI like the historical background information on your second CCQC; the history of immigration in early America. That coupled with the information on the spread of fauna, both native and foreign, in America really gave me the feeling that you liked and were interested in the claim of the CCQC. When someone appreciates a topic, they are likely going to be more inspiring in their writing, and I can see that here. While I do think the excerpt that you chose to support your thesis expresses your claim well, there are other valid examples.
ReplyDelete"Delaney looked round at his neighbors, their faces drained and white, fists clenched, ready to go anywhere, do anything, seething with it, spoiling for it, a mob. They were out here in the night, outside the walls, forced out of their shells, and there was nothing to restrain them." Pg 289
Even though the passage is located further into the book, so you wouldn't of read that far, its meaning really expresses your point. The coyotes, which are obvious metaphors for the American view of Mexican immigrants, are being kept out because the Americans are afraid of them. They built a wall to keep the coyotes out and to keep out potential harm, just like America has done on our border.