In The Tortilla Curtain,
wild coyotes that terrorize the residents of Arroyo Blanco Estates are used by
T.C. Boyle to symbolize illegal immigrants in the United States. In one of the
first scenes of the novel, Delaney, one of the narrators and a resident of
Arroyo Blanco Estates, watches a coyote take his dog from inside his yard. A
deeper meaning comes through as Delaney describes the event, “There it was,
wild nature, up and over the fence as if this were some sort of circus
act.”(37) This scene symbolizes a number of different things. First it
symbolizes the helplessness most affluent, white, US citizens feel toward the
situation at the border. The US builds a higher and higher wall nearly
impossible to cross but these citizens see that people manage to cross it like
“some sort of circus act.” Secondly, this scene embodies the helplessness most
affluent, white, citizens, feel toward protecting themselves and the
corresponding scene later in the book drives this point home when the second
dog is taken by another coyote. As Delaney says when the second dog is taken
from the same spot after a heightened fence has been constructed, “Despite his
rage and determination and the howls from his wife and son, he was
impotent.”(194) Boyle creates the allusion perfectly right down the last detail
that the dogs the coyote take are small, white, oblivious to danger, unable to
defend themselves, and happily pampered. These dogs symbolize US citizens in
their synthetic environment, so far removed from their natural form in the
wild, completely reliant on their masters much as people in the US are reliant
on the government. Neither the government nor those dogs masters seem capable
of keeping nature, both human and literal, out.
T.C.
Boyle uses his novel The Tortilla Curtain
to show the age of liberal humanism in a different light that usual. One of the
main characters, Delaney, an affluent white, US citizen, encompasses the new
American façade, liberal humanism. In the modern era, many US citizens consider
themselves to be liberal humanists. Liberal humanism is defined a number of
different ways by different people but essentially it is the non-religious
belief in the perseverance of human nature, it centers on human values and
worth, and the concern for human welfare. The character Delaney shows us the
view of such people and he is very proud of the fact that he is a liberal
humanist, as he shows to a neighbor to whom he talks of his views and beliefs
“everyone deserved a chance in life”(102). However Boyle shows us the danger of
liberal humanism. Boyle shows us that unlike for example a church setting that
encourages community service to better the lives of others, “liberal humanists”
feel no responsibility to make any action toward making their beliefs a reality
and feel comfortable just believing in them. This is a danger because while it
is a noble thought, if no actions are brought about, people can begin to forget
what the point is in their beliefs and can turn into the crazed gun toting
person that Delaney becomes. We must all remind ourselves why we believe what
we do because in a culture so self absorbed it is easy to lose sight of
oneself.
The significance of the coyote can also be seen in one of Delaney's nature columns, "I am waiting for something, I don't know what...And then I hear it, a high tenuous glissade of sound that I might have mistaken for a siren if I didn't know better, and I realize that this is what I've been waiting for all along: the coyote chorus" (78-79). Delaney is both afraid of the coyotes and in awe of them. He knows that, like the immigrants, the animals can not easily be controlled, yet by their presence in the hills he is "lulled by the impassioned beauty"(79).
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with both Eleanor and Sarah. I believe the coyote can also be seen as a symbol of the immigrants in the book, such as Candido and America. Like the immigrants the coyote is in a struggle to survive, living in nature. Delaney writes about this in one of his later columns, "The coyote is not to blame- he is only trying to survive, to make a living, to take advantage of the opportunities around him" (p214). Life for the coyotes is difficult, similarly to the lives of the many illegal immigrants which Delaney feels helpless from stopping. At the end of his column Delaney portrays his feelings towards the immigrants using the symbol of the coyote "The coyotes keep coming, breeding up to fill in the gaps, moving in where the living is easy" (p215). Delaney is threatened by the many coyotes as he is by the immigrants.
ReplyDeleteYou're exactly right Eleanor! The Coyote is a definite metaphor for illegal immigrants in the United States and how they are perceived. As Sarah and Sophia have said, Delaney writes about coyotes in his later columns. In one, which spans for the whole of chapter five, Delaney seems to be attacking coyotes. One of his examples is of a family who left their baby outside and a coyote came and took it. He states that the Coyote was only able to do this because he had lost his fear of humans due to their friendly behavior. "The coyote involved, a healthy four-year-old female with a litter of pups, had been a regular daytime visitor to the area, lured by misguided residents who routinely left tidbits for her on the edge of their lawns." (213). Although this is a rare case, Delaney uses it as evidence against all coyotes: "Little Jennifer's neck was broken as neatly as a rabbits: that is the coyote's way." (214). Delaney is taking a small anecdote that occurred once and using it to generally judge coyotes as harmful creatures. He is rationalizing his dislike of coyotes. This is similar to the way a lot of California citizens choose to dislike illegal immigrants. They use ignorant ideas such as "they will take our jobs" to rationalize their ridiculous dislike for immigrants. As Sophia says, the real reason for dislike is probably because they feel threatened by this unfamiliar presence.
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