Barriers and Division in The Tortilla Curtain: Summary, Analysis, Meaning

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Barriers and Division in The Tortilla Curtain
The Tortilla Curtain is a novel written by T. C. Boyle. The narration centers on a Mexican couple who were illegal immigrants in the United States, Los Angeles, California. Throughout the narration, the author discusses the hot-button issue of immigration, which is the leading cause of challenges between the rich and the poor. Borders cannot prevent immigrants from crossing; throughout the novel, the author refers to curtains, borders, barriers, walls, fences, steep canyons, among others. Each instance these features appear is associated with particular situations or events. The essay aims to discuss these events using quotes, offering specific detail on the instance of each appearance. The coyotes are individuals who make fortunes from their business of sneaking immigrants across the barriers created in the borders. While the fences were created to keep out coyotes, the narration proves that nor fence or barrier can hinder the immigrants and coyotes from accessing the other side.
The relationship of the United States and Mexico is of essence to both nations. The Tortilla Curtain centers on the issue of immigration, and the author utilizes a differential perspective to show us the perspective from two couple from different cultural backgrounds. Candido and America Rincon are illegal Mexican immigrants who meet with Delany and Kyra, who are residents of South California meeting through unfortunate happenings. Throughout the narration, we can see how the physical and social boundaries play significant role as the two families clash. As the author laughs off the American Dream, the right attitudes and character of the individuals are revealed (Boyle).
The Tortilla Curtain is a name that refers to the barrier between South Carolina and Mexico, also representing the barrier between the rich and poor. On one side, the low-income families such as the Mexican couple exist. They crossed the Tortilla Curtain illegally. While all sides of the curtain are aiming to achieve the American Dream, the poor are facing hardships while the rich are having a comfortable life. Indeed, the life of the poor on the other side of the curtain was "…a headache, his whole stinking worthless pinche Vida" (16). It was the poor who were "the ones coming through the Tortilla Curtain down there" (101). The separation was what differentiated the people who were outside the place with walls.
The concept of barriers are used many times throughout the story. It is an illustration of the separation between the rich and the poor, the Mexicans and legal residents of the United States. In the novel, the author notes, "He flung open the door and shot through the courtyard, head down, rounding the corner of the house just in time to see a dun-colored blur scaling the six-foot chain-link fence with a tense white form clamped in its jaws" (37). This describes the experience of Delaney, who was one of the poor individuals on the other side of the fence. This is an illustration of the different experiences of the illegal immigrants. The author further notes, "His brain decoded the image: a coyote had somehow managed to get into the enclosure and seize one of the dogs, and there it ...