Comparing The Tortilla Curtain And In The Rose Garden

The Tortilla Curtain by T.C Boyle and Child, Dead, In the Rose Garden by E.L Doctorow, are both examples of social commentaries, but have different purposes. The Tortilla Curtain is a novel that emphasizes conflict between two families and their views on the American Dream. The first family presented is Delaney’s family: a financially stable and white family, and the other family is Candido and America: immigrants from Mexico who came to the U.S with barely anything. Child, Dead, In The Rose Garden, on the other hand, is a story that demonstrates how power can be taken advantage by those who have “power”. In the story, Agent B.W Molloy shared the story on how there was a case that occurred after 9/11, where a child was found dead outside the

To start it off, both stories involved the thought of immigration and xenophobia. Xenophobia is the fear of letting outsiders into their country, usually after a certain incident occurred. In Tortilla Curtain, there was a gate being built in the Arroyo Blanco Estate to keep the “coyotes” out. What this really symbolized was a gate being built to keep any outsider out. Another similarity that is found in both books is power being taken advantage of. In Tortilla Curtain, there was an incident in which America, Candidos wife was raped by her boss. America wanted to work to make some sort of money, so she went to the unemployment office. When she was able to get the job, her boss lured her into his car and began molesting her. This is an example of power being taken advantage of since America’s boss knew she wouldn't say anything since he was a white rich male. In Child, Dead, In the Rose Garden, a xenophobic comment was made and at that time, there was a huge amount of xenophobia was going around. “Well they brought him from somewhere. This feels to me like an Arab thing” (paragraph 43). This relates to xenophobia because this occurred after 9/11 where everyone pointed fingers to people who looked of indian descent. A similarity on how power was being taken advantage of is when an FBI agent tried to hide the case. “The Kid was not there” (paragraph 97). This is an example of federal officials taking advantage of their power since they