Will Sileo
AP Comp
11/23/14
TORTILLA CURTAIN CCQC’s
Between the lives of the affluent Arroyo Blanco citizens, and that of the almost hidden Mexican population, we see a defined “tortilla curtain,” dividing the two groups, while at the same time, permeable and easily torn. We can see such crossovers frequently, especially when Candido starts a fire at the end of the section, scaring the Arroyo Blanco families from their homes. “...the wind plucked the fire from it’s bed of coal and with a roar as loud as all the furnaces of hell set it dancing in the treetops.” (p257) This iconic moment in the story shows us how quickly the two “worlds” can collide, throwing everything into chaos and insanity. Really, the only places where we see mishap and the downward spiral in which the affluent white community grows more and more distrustful, causing them to throw up larger barriers, which only alienate the Mexican community, inciting more mishaps, causing even larger barriers. It is a never ending cycle that we can see quite often in our society today, with police violence, racism, or even something as small as a family argument.
Throughout the second part of the book, the tone is set with a heavy sense of dread and building tension, that adds to the overall theme of helplessness within the viscous cycle of self preservation. Both Delaney and Candido spend the second part of the book doing what they feel is necessary to preserve their lives and protect those they love. Delaney is forced to deal with the struggles his wife goes through with the De Rosa property she so desperately is trying to sell, amidst squatters on the property and angry spray-painted words that appear when she chases them off. "She was bewildered at first, then outraged and finally just plain frightened. There scrawled in across the side of the house in six-foot-high spray-painted letters, was a message for her... PINCHE PUTA" (p223) Candido struggles and actually successfully finds work, only to have his wife raped, and the work exchange taken down. Kyra, scared by the influx of Mexicans, pulls strings to get them swept up by police, Dominick Flood meanwhile, shuts down the work exchange, forcing many more immigrants to a life of crime, creating a bigger problem. to top it all off, Osbert is dragged over the wall by the same coyote, just this time, a fence that is many feet higher.
Your idea, that you mentioned in your first CCQC concerning the “never ending cycle,” is not only relatable to society today but can be often found in history. In early America, it was very difficult for yeomen farmers and early immigrants to move up the social ranks and progress themselves and their family; an idea called “social mobility.” The difficulty the Rincon’s and other immigrant family’s have resemble the ubiquitousness of social mobility in today’s society. It seems as though Candido and America are in a never-ending cycle, unable to escape their unfortunate predicament which is met with constant negative events that hinder Candido’s progress, such as the fire that burns all their money, the closing of the labor exchange, and a beating that Candido received where the attacker “got everything. Every Penny.” (234) This idea, the lack of social mobility for the immigrants, adds to Candido’s sense of dread, mentioned in the second CCQC, which builds upon the already complicated and complex storyline.
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