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The Importance Of Borders In The Tortilla Curtain

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Borders are everywhere, whether seen or unseen, there are language borders, walls, social status division, race, and distance just to name a few. Borders play a constant role in humanity’s everyday life, those same boundaries – both seen and unseen- play a large role in the novel The Tortilla Curtain, by T.C.Boyle, especially the front gate and later surrounding wall of the Arroyo Blanco Estates. These boundaries represent the divide between humanity and animality, wealth and poverty and paranoia and sanity. Candido and America Rincon are the poorest of the poor with no home, steady income or food at times, and to make matters more defeating, they have a baby on the way. The Mossbachers, Delaney and Kyra live a life of luxury, as agnostic liberals …show more content…

The boundaries that separate the Mossbachers from the Rincon’s are not just figurative in terms of social status, money and the location of where they live, but are also physical. The front gate of the Arroyo Blanco, was set in place by the community to protect the houses and people inside from thieves, murderers, rapists and illegal Mexican immigrants. Just like the gate that protected Prince Prospero and his court from the “Red Death”. In “Masque of the Red Death” by Edgar Allan Poe, Prince Prospero and his court lock themselves in a community that protects them from the plague, partying and enjoying eachothers company day by day. “This wall had gates of iron…There were buffoons, there were improvisatori, there were ballet dancers, there were musicians, there was beauty, there was wine…without was the “Red Death” (Poe 1)”. One could make a connection from the Tortilla Curtain and The Masque of the Red Death, and the illegal immigrants and the “Red Death”. While the wealthy can lock themselves away from all the nastiness and ugliness of the world, the poor suffer and try to find ways to survive. the connections between humanity and animality can be seen early on in the novel, as

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