What Does Tortilla Curtain Mean

There are many different frameworks for examining ethical standards and behavior. Greek philosopher Aristotle emphasized that ethical behavior involves acting the right way toward the right person in due proportion at the right time for the right reason. The Yoga Sutras emphasize the ideas of non-harming (ahimsa), truthfulness (satya), non-stealing (asteya), and non-greed (apariagraha). At the heart of Tortilla Curtain, the novel by T.C. Boyle is the idea that ethical behavior must revolve around the humane and fair treatment of others without pre-determined bias or preconceived notions. Tortilla Curtain as well as the essays “Walking While Black in the ‘White Gaze,’” and “I’m an Illegal Immigrant at Harvard,” teach the importance of this kind

As shown in T.C. Boyle’s novel, Tortilla Curtain, illegal immigrants Candido and America are struggling to survive as it is but the fact that they are pre-judged as stupid, criminal and less worthy only makes things worse for them. All they want is to live a simple and happy life in peace by working hard, having a home and putting food on their table. However, everything seems to work against them. Candido is hurt when Delaney hits him with his car but Delaney pays him twenty dollars and walks away and dismisses what happened easily because Candido is “a Mexican.” (16) A pregnant America finally finds some work but because of common stereotypes about her race, however, the employer gets away with subjecting her to poisonous fumes, fondling her and cheating her out of the full amount she is owed. This toxic exposure is likely the cause of her baby’s blindness. According to Delaney’s neighbor Jack Jardine, illegal immigrants have “no education, no resources, no skills” and are “the ones that are killing us.” (101). Sadly, to some extent these stereotypes become self-fulfilling prophecies. Due to the fact that America and Candido aren’t given a fair chance to simply survive, they have to steal in

Delaney Mossbacher in Tortilla Curtain, goes from being a proud self-described “liberal humanist” (3) who believes “everyone deserved a chance in life” (102) to a bitter racist who stereotypes and hates others irrationally. At the start of the book, Delaney hits illegal immigrant Candido with his car. Delaney initially feels badly about what he has done to Candido but he is able to brush these feelings away because as he tells his wife Kyra, “he was Mexican.” (16) As the story continues, Delaney is influenced by his racist neighbor Jack Jardine and his negative feelings about the immigrants are heightened by events such as the littering of the canyon and the wildfire that threatens his housing development. Delaney comes to unfairly and irrationally hate Candido and the other immigrants. This hatred “came up on him so fast it choked him” and consumed him so that “all he cared about was this Mexican, the man who’d invaded his life like some unshakable parasite, like a disease.” (332). His stereotyping and hate cause Delaney to act illogically and completely unlike the liberal humanist he thought he was. He ends up convincing himself that he was the victim of the initial car accident, not Candido, because he comes to believe Candido threw himself in front of his car on purpose to get money from him. (109). Delaney becomes someone who