Nash CCQC #2

I think that Boyle is trying to prove a point about the way that many Americans turn a blind eye to the suffering that it happening around them. Many of the people in Arroyo Blanco don’t realize the pain and suffering that the immigrants go through on a daily basis. The high-class citizens of society treat the low ones like objects that don’t matter and don’t realize what these immigrants have been through just to make it to America. Kyra has an amazing lifestyle, when compared to Cándido and América it would seem to the reader that she is extremely blessed to be in the place where she is. She regards the less fortunate as “ubiquitous, prolific as rabbits, and they were death for business” (158). This comment was directed at a group of Mexicans loitering on a street corner. She viewed them as objects that were good for nothing and brought down the values of all the properties nearby. It is eye opening to read about the life of Cándido and América because when thinking about it from their perspective, they should be able to have a chance in the US to earn a fair living. Cándido thought, “What gave them the right to all the riches of the world”(200). This thought makes sense because most Americans have more than enough money to get by and we are allowing people to go hungry on the streets.

Boyle’s use of juxtaposition is a very powerful element in The Tortilla Curtain. He does a very good job of telling the stories of the Mossbachers and the Rincóns, telling about two extremely different lifestyles. Doing this has a way of glorifying life for the Mossbachers and even farther diminishing the existence of the Rincóns. When reading about these extremely different situations, it is easier to put things in perspective and realize the full gravity of each family’s economic situation. The community of Arroyo Blanco has some problems that immigrants wouldn’t even think about such as property values. “This is a community… an exclusive private highly desirable location. And what do you think’s going to happen to our property values if your filthy coyotes start attacking children”(221). Meanwhile the Rincóns are trying to save up enough money to move into a place described as “pinched and meaner, a lot of second hand shops and auto parts stores, dirty restaurants and cantinas with bars on the window”(207). The author juxtaposes the two very different lifestyles, reinforcing the themes in the book.