How The Literal And Figurative Walls Symbolize In The Tortilla Curtain

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Boundaries In T.C. Boyle’s The Tortilla Curtain, it should be easily noted that each wall comes with a much deeper, metaphorical meaning. The literal and figurative boundaries in the story appear as symbols for what keep the characters in their own “worlds.” These boundaries symbolize the fear of outside forces which each character struggles to keep away from what they cherish the most. Although the boundaries in the story can both be real and imagined, each one of them can allude back to the main issue of the Mexican-American border. The figurative walls in the novel are much harder to pin point than those that are literal. Candido’s father showed him that when he is “…lost or hungry or in danger, ponte pared, make like a wall” (Boyle …show more content…

Two walls can be analogized to the illegal immigrants passing across any state or country border. The physical fence around the Mossbachers’ home is one of these. Although they buy a bigger, better fence, the “…coyote had somehow managed to get into the enclosure and seize one of the dogs…” (37) Throughout the book, Delaney and Kyra worry about these animals entering their yard. This just shows that no matter how big of a boundary you construct, the “coyotes” will always find a way around it. The Arroyo Blanco wall can also be compared to a state or country border. It separates the things that can come in, and the things that cannot. Since the residents want to be apart from the rest of the world, this can be seen as a metaphor of ignorance. “They were out here in the night, outside the walls, forced out of their shells, and there was nothing to restrain them” (289). The canyon walls can be seen as racial boundaries that disconnect the Rincons from the rest of the world. This boundary is very important because it reminds the Rincons of how far away they are from the American Dream. Towards the end of the novel, the Rincons and Delaney are all swept away by a “wall of water.” This wall has knocked down all other barriers throughout the book, and allow the characters to collide. Candido has a change of heart and “…when he saw the white face surge up out of the black swirl of the current and the white

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