You started Tortilla Curtain this week.
Whenever we read, something associational happens.(I may have made up that word associational, but I like it). What I mean is, our reading constantly links to other reading, to tv, to movies, to conversations with classmates, loved ones, or others, to memories of a guy you once saw and never thought would see again but there he is, stuck in your memory, to classes you have taken, or to food or drink or any other associational memory.
As you read the book this week, what associations did your mind make? By the way, write this down as you read. Do not go research anything (except maybe the word associational). Just tell me what you thought about as you read.
Honestly, after I read the first few chapters I could not stop laughing because I keep seeing that one episode of Family Guy in my head. It is the one where it is Valentine’s Day in Quahog and everyone is spending time with their loved ones. They have this hilarious seen where Consuela is dogging bullets while she jumps the boarder like a ninja, and then leaps into her husband’s arms, and cuddle behind a boulder. Tortilla Curtain takes this humorous situation, rips away the glamour, and shows how awful the situation can really be. América and Cándido came to America is hope of a better future. The rumors of even the dirt poor having a roof over their head and a car inspired them to cross the border illegally. To their utter dismay, the couple is camping in a ravine by the street, stealing food to live another day, and begging for work in a competitive market. To make matters worse, the racism they encounter and the fear it produces keeps them from sleeping at night. The idea of living off tortillas and nasty water makes me appreciative for what I have. Also, when Cándido mentions Bakersfield for having many farming jobs I was confused. I know that Bakersfield is known for farms, but since I do not venture far from campus, I have not really seen them (with the exception of those on route 5). But finally seeing these jobs from their point of view, I almost feel guilty for not hiring people at labor stops to do a job. My father prefers to give them a chance but I discourage him out of fear. We do not know these people and I just do not trust strangers; but how can I deny others their lively hood? How come there are not homesteads and safe havens for these people? I cannot understand why our humanity is thrown out the window the second our actions are not directly influencing people we know.
ReplyDeleteI finished reading the first part of the book and there were so many thoughts and visuals running through my head. I was visualizing both Delaney and his wife Kyra's world and Candido and his wife America's world. It reminded me of books that I have read of the lives of the rich and the poor and how both lives are related to each other in some way. This book reminds me of how glamorous people can live and still not be happy about it. For example, Delaney's wife Kyra just wanted to stay in the big mansion she was supposed to sell and not go home to her husband, child, and dog. She just felt like she wanted to just stay there forever and not go back home. Also, the book reminds me of what hardships people have to go through to get a better life. It makes me feel very blessed and appreciative of what I have in my life. The book helps me visualize both couples' lifestyles, what they view on life, and what hardships they have to face. For example, what America went through in the first part of the book, makes me realize that through tough times you have to stay strong and not let anything get to you. The Tortilla Curtain touches on racism from both perspectives of Delaney and Candido. It reminded me of movies I watched in my history classes in high school about racism in America and all over the world. This book has made me have perspective on what people go through in everyday life; whether the person is rich or poor.
ReplyDeleteWhile reading The Tortilla Curtain, I just felt mad the majority of the time. As soon as Delaney hit Candido, he mainly focused on himself and his car. He was also just going to leave when he thought Candido had been thrown over the side of the road, down in the canyon. Delaney does not have to worry about much, he lives a pretty carefree life, he has a family, a good job, and big house, and he did not have the decency to help Candido more than just giving him twenty dollars. That twenty dollars meant so little to Delaney, yet so much to Candido. Delaney was able to go home, while Candido had to stay in the desert without proper care. This book reminds me of the people in this world who have no regard for others who are different, especially some of the people on my newsfeed on Facebook. The people on Facebook share pictures that say horrible things about immigrants, what is even worse is at least half of them do not know what they are talking about, they will just share it to make people angry. A picture I saw today read "Why the heck do I have to press 1 for English? Did America Move?" Things like this make it so annoying and difficult to go on Facebook. As we saw from the blog entry this week, all of our families have immigrated to the United States at one point, except for Native Americans of course.
ReplyDeleteTortilla curtain so far is a very interesting book. Honestly, when Delaney hit Candido, I was wondering why there was no one, at least not one person stopped by to help him with the accident. I was irritated because I thought Candido was also driving a car, but then I figured through reading further that Candido was pushing a cart and flew off the road once hit. After reading about the accident, I remembered my very first accident about a year ago by a semi-truck. I was driving a little Honda, following a semi-truck in a one way street, when we reached the stop signs, I automatically assumed that the driver was going straight because he did not turn on his blinker, so I went over to his right side, and before I was going to turn, the semi-truck turned right, almost crashed me right then, but I was lucky enough to pull aside very quick to prevent it from happening. The left side of my car was damaged but I was fine. Worst was that the driver did not see me so he didn't stop, so I followed him, (my car still worked) and demanded him but he ignored me, then I called the police, but they didn't do anything. Like Delaney, he was shaken with fear, shocked, didn't know what to do, and the scene kept coming back. I was in the same position, but I was angry at the driver and myself. But Thank goodness I'm still alive. And reading further, there is some racism going on here. That Mexicans did this, did that, and this wouldn’t have never happen if they were not here. At least that’s what Delaney thought. People just automatically assumed just because a person or people don’t have money or house to live in, they blamed them for everything. That’s just not right and it bugs me. And what America and Candido was going through makes me appreciate of what I have.
ReplyDeleteWhile reading The Tortilla Curtain I cannot help but to think, about, and make the connection between, modern day “hipsters” and Delaney. I feel like I come into contact with many versions of Delaney everyday. There is this “eco friendly and socially aware” fad that is happening right now that makes me question whether people really do care about the environment and are advocates for helping people from other countries or if they just want to be part of the crowd. I find the similarities between the people I come into contact with on a daily basis and Delaney undeniable. I perceive Delaney as a well-intentioned middle class man who feels like he deserves a pat on the back for being educated and remembering to take his bottles to the recycling. The part that killed me was when I read that his license plate read “pilgrim”. I am deeply confused about what makes him a pilgrim. I guess I can see that he feels he is on a metaphorical journey to a great place in life but I still have some confusion about it. It automatically reminded me of the native American headdress costumes that are being sported at Coachella by all of the middle class “rebels” who are attending this year. Now I don’t know anyone’s family history, but I feel a little bit offended for native Americans when I see stuff like that because I’m pretty sure the people wearing those headdresses are not native Americans nor do they know anything about native Americans. I also feel like Delaney is comparable to the “rebels of this generation because I feel like he thinks he is fighting for greater causes and has a heart for the world and the people in it but the life that he lives is completely contradictory and he often makes decisions based on his own comfort in his extremely comfortable life.
ReplyDeleteThe rich scenic descriptions of Topanga Canyon in which the canyon with the shrubs and the dirt are described reminds me of my childhoods spent in Mexico. I would go and stay in a small rural town in northern Mexico. It is warm and dusty in the summer. There are mountains and dried out grass with some shrubs and trees. In addition, by reading the above description, I envision the scenery much like that of a desert. Like when you're driving down to Palm Springs and you see mountains and dried out vegetation on a large body of dirt.
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ReplyDeleteAs I read the Tortilla Curtain, the smells and foliage of the canyon reminds me of the central coast. I lived the first nine years of my life on a ranch just above Cayucos, Ca and would roam the hills from sunup to sundown. The canyon would get very warm and the wild rosemary would give off a sweet smell when it had been baking in the sun. Around every cow trodden path, I was always afraid of coming across a snake that could swallow me whole. Of course there are no snakes that large naturally in California but for my seven year old imagination it was imminent. Other than my fear of snakes, I had no sense of mountain lions, bobcats or coyotes. There is suspense in the story that gives you the sense that there is a great deal more happening in that canyon than America or Candido can sense.
ReplyDeleteAnother association while reading the story was my memories of men and women that I have worked alongside that were immigrants. When I was sixteen I got a job at Denny's at I5 and Coalinga exit. There was one man that worked as a busboy/dishwasher and he was always so pleasant to me. We didn't completely understand each other because my Spanish was as thorough as my Sophomore education. He usually had a smile and helped me while we worked together. He was a husband and father of three children. Armando also worked in the evenings at Harris Ranch Restaurant washing dishes. In his spare time, he was attended West Hills College Coalinga to learn English. His great attitude and perseverance made a large impression on a girl entering the work force. Any time I saw Armando, he had a smile for me. During the summer months we had many rude and impatient customers and if they ever upset him, you never knew it.
There have been times in my life that it was easy to feel sorry for myself. Looking around and seeing what others have and see the unfairness of going without. I can honestly say, even at my family's poorest, we never had to live in a canyon. If we were completely destitute, my single mother could communicate with those that could help us out of our situation. There were times that she had to call churches and ask if they could cover a PGE bill or rent, but there were always resources available. In this story, their resources are severely limited. These limits are not just the language they speak, but the overall attitude of those they come across. The irony of Delaney giving Candido a twenty dollar bill was so well written that I literally laughed out loud. Here is this man that believes himself to be a great humanitarian and yet he gives no real help to this man that he possibly just maimed with his car. This is human nature at its finest. We all would like to believe that we would never behave in a certain way that we find distasteful, but we all have ugly flaws. Humans all have the potential to be awful creatures.
When I read the first few pages of Tortilla Curtain, I kept visualizing the twists and turns of the highway going through Kern Canyon. I guess I’ve been driving through there a lot recently because my husband and I have been taking day trips which we have to drive the canyon to get to our destination. When I was reading, I associated the story with my fear of running into some other car or person while we’re rounding a turn in the road. I also have a strange fear of being rammed off into the underlying rocks and river. When the character in the story was searching for the man he hit with his car, my mind immediately rushed to my own fear of falling down into the canyon. The tone at the beginning when the main character doesn’t understand the man’s accent and simply describes it as “foreign”, as well as some of the characterization of the main character’s feeling towards the man who he hit, remind me of a Chicano studies class I took at Bakersfield College. It’s strange that people can stereotype and assume that others aren’t as important as they are because they are “foreign” to them. I’m not sure if this is a theme in the story yet, though. As I continue to read, I become more sure that it will be. The main character seems to disregard the man he hit as human, handing him twenty dollars to get him to go away and thinking of him “polluting” the canyon by living down there. There is no sympathy at all for this man, and that makes me feel sad and reminds me of the disillusionment of some of my own friends. Apparently this guy has quite the issue with “pollution”, from his love of recycling to his ignorance about the human race.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading the first part of the book, there were plenty of things that reminded me of my own experience. At first, reading the book, I was turned off by the ignorant comments from Delaney. He hit Candido, pays him $20, and then talk bad about him and other immigrants at the auto shop to his wife. Like really? It reminded of an accident when I was in middle school. My friend, Jennifer and I was walking towards school where we got dropped off. A parent drove while saying bye to her child. Without looking straight ahead, she hit my friend's leg with her bumper. Luckily she stepped on the brake. The lady said sorry and offered her $10. Being young and naive, my friend thought she got $10 for a little tap on her leg, not knowing that later it would hurt. Throughout the day, she started limping. When she got home, her parents asked what happen. The next day, her parents confronted the lady asking her why did she give her money, she should've taken her inside the school to the nurse to see if she was okay. The lady got embarrassed and defensive. She started blaming the incident on Jennifer, saying she ran into her car carelessly, and blackmail to her give money to Jennifer. None of that was true. When Candido talks about Bakersfield, I pictured the farms and the guy selling flowers off Old River going towards the 5 freeway. Also, when Delaney talked about the KFC buckets left behind in the woods, it reminded me of the time when my parents were still together. They use to bring home the bucket full of chicken with the chocolate cake. Even though he was talking about the littering of KFC buckets causing coyotes to come, it brought me to a happy time in my life of my childhood memory.
ReplyDeleteWithin the four pages of reading the book, Delaney got into a car accident and the first thing that concerned him was if his car was okay. Then he thought if he was going to lose insurace benefits, and then finally felt sympathetic towards the victim. This reminds me alot about my friend Alex in high school who was a Jordan shoe collector. This guy had over 50 pairs of shoes that he only wore once and his Jordans were his prize possession. One day at school, he wore his new Jordan 6's and for some odd reason he accidentally ran into me and i stepped on his shoe. He was very infuriated, but i couldn't help but just laugh because he ran into me. Next thing i knew, he went to the bathroom to clean the dirt marks on his shoes, and came back telling me you are lucky that you did not scratch them. I think its crazy to see people buy $200 dollar shoes and think that they are not going to get dirty.
ReplyDeleteAs I was reading this, it struck me how Delaney was so quick to judge someone he didn't even know. Delaney first felt bad for Candido after he left him at the canyon. But the longer Delaney thought about it, he started to make assumptions about Candido and was creating all these situations that made Candido seem like the bad guy. On top of that, he gave Candido $20 for hitting him with his car because after all, he was only a Mexican. That struck me as very powerful and sad, that Delaney would put a price on someone's life that he barely knew and justify it because he perceived him as a lesser individual. I find myself also making assumptions about people I come across. When I am at work and a customer is rude to me, it's very easy for me to get upset and think they are just a rude, spiteful person. But I try to always take step back and think about why someone may be in a bad mood. Maybe they just got laid off from their job and they are the breadwinner of their household. Or they might just have had a fight with someone and are in a bad mood. I try to make good assumptions about people, unlike Delaney who jumped straight to the negative. I enjoy books like The Tortilla Curtain because it forces you to think about what you would do in the same situation. Also being in nursing school made me want to slap Delaney for not taking Candido to the hospital or at least call an ambulance. I was thinking of all the injuries he could possibly have from being hit by a car.
ReplyDeleteAs I read, I understood why Candido refused to get help from a doctor. Many Mexicans are illegal and don't have insurance. They are not able to pay for the treatment. Things like visiting a dentist is not done because it is to much money. Braces, eyeglasses, pills is just to costly. And also the fear of getting deported.
ReplyDeleteI also read the part where Candido laughed at America for saying she could work in picking lettuce or fruit. Candido replied that they weren't in Bakersfield. This reminded me of the fields I'm surrounded with. I work out in the field during the summer, I pick grapes for wine and measure their sugar levels. I drove around in a small thing similar to a golf cart. There are neighboring fields that grow tomatoes, watermelon, almonds, blueberries, cotton and many more. I was lucky and befriended a small dark man who gave me some tomatoes and watermelon.
I saw two extreme cases; Candido and America were in terrible conditions and Delaney and his family were well off living comfortably.
I also saw the reversal of roles were Delaney had no problem being the one who cared for the home while his wife was the breadwinner. He didn't feel he was less than a man and wasn't into all those machismo ideas. Unlike some different cultures where men have very macho ideas. Ideas such as women are only allowed to clean the home and take care of kids.
I saw a video on youtube with Jimmy Kimmel and Guillermo go and visit a Nail Salon asking some questions to the Women there. Guillermo says how men wouldn't enter or do things like this beacause of their machismo. The Asian women that was doing Jimmy Kimmels feet said to him if she could marry again she would marry an American Man. Because her Husband has machismo ideas.
Definitely the first chapter when Delaney hits Candido with his car. When I got through the first two chapters I stopped and thought to myself, "Damn Delaney is an ass for just assuming since he's Mexican everything was okay in the end." Delaney gives him $20 and assumes everything is just fine because of that fact. It's certainly wrong and it did anger me. Delaney's emotions were real prior to the crash and for a time after, but as the day went on his judgement got the best of him. This sort of situation made me think back to the many number of times I have judged people without knowing anything about them. Everybody does it. It's a terrible thing that us human beings have a tendency to do for no good reason. Ch. 1 and 2 made me refer back to my life and the number of times I have wrongly judged people for the smallest things and not realizing who they really are. In fact, one of my best friends, John, was somebody I wrongly judged before I became his friend. I thought he was awkward, dressed weird, and had no sense of humor prior to actually talking to him. I misjudged him, got to know him and now he's been a best friend for several years and I was completely wrong about those statements. I felt terrible for that and I am surprised Delaney showed little regret after leaving Candido considering the circumstances despite his opinion on Mexicans. Usually I judge people in the positive light when I first meet them, but there are people that I have wrongly judged because of one or two things I don't like about them on the surface. Delaney made no effort to reason with himself about this man he just hit. All he thought about was basically, "Oh, hey, he's Mexican so he will be okay with this $20 bill." Obviously this is just the beginning of the book so maybe that will change as the story goes on, but this does make him a bad person for not even considering taking the man to a hospital or calling the cops. When I make judgements in my head about somebody, no matter the reason, I try to make reasons in my head as to why something may have happened. If somebody is upset I readily assume that person has had a bad day and something bad happened to them. I only react with negative judgements if I have enough evidence to make that judgement. The book may have frustrated me because of Delaney, but the book certainly got my brain thinking back to my past and how much I have changed for the better.
ReplyDeleteThe first thing that caught my eye about this T.C. Boyle's book is the title, Tortilla Curtain. I wonder if a tortilla curtain is possible, and if i would eat it. Anyway as i am reading the book i like the choice of words that the author uses to describe the action in the scenario. For example, when the author uses "flash" instead of something like glimpse in "There was the astonished look, a flash of mustache, the collapsing mouth flung open in a mute cry," (Boyle 4). "Flash of mustache" kind of makes me laugh a little inside because it reminds me of how "flash" is used in other terms. The scenario of the accident kind of reminds me of where i used to live in Washington. There is only one big highway and the sides of he road are filled with tress of nature so anything is possible and can come out of nowhere. I remember one of the things my family had to watch out for when traveling to the nearest town for groceries was for deers. As i keep reading, i also like how the author incorporates Spanish words to make the reader speak Spanglish, it reminds me of how sometimes me and my friends talk or movies like Blood In, Blood Out. I also get to thinking about the relationship between Americans and illegal immigrants when stuff like this happens and how it could be handled better.
ReplyDeleteWhen I began reading the book, the thing that caught my attention most was the description of the walk to the Labor Exchange that Candido made everyday to find work. The winding road reminded me of the time I had to walk on Highway 1 on my way to Big Sur and the terror I felt when a car would zoom around the corner. My mother-in-law accidentally locked her keys in her car after a hike and we had to walk 3 miles along Highway1 to the nearest restaurant to use the phone. I look back on that and I imagine Candido walking up the same terrifying road in the hopes of finding work for the day. I imagine Candido and America camped in the canyon below my grandparents old house in Tehachapi. Delaney reminds me of a friend of mine that appears to have an egalitarian frame of mind when speaking about issues. However, he quickly changes his tone and feels like he is the one under attack when the issues get too close to him. The character could be based on this person for all I know.
ReplyDeleteOn page 17 Boyle wrote “his only armor was a cotton shirt”. Writing reminds me of when I would go paintballing with my friends. Often it was hot so I would only wear a cotton t shirt and it was not much armor. I would come back home with welts all over but it was fun.
ReplyDeleteOn page 20 Boyle wrote “He didn’t need a doctor… How would he pay?; this reminded me of the many people in Bakersfield who do not speak English yet need to go to the hospital. When I worked as an EMT many badly hurt people would refuse to go to the emergency room because they did not want to pay anything. A person could basically be dying in front of you and they refuse help. This is a sad reality but a person’s write to refuse medical treatment.
On page 28 Boyle wrote “this isn’t Bakersfield, this is L.A.” in chapter two. This reminds me of the opposite as I often hear people who live in Bakersfield that this place isn’t like Los Angeles. It was weird to think that more opportunity might exist in Bakersfield in comparison to Los Angeles but it makes sense coming from the characters of this book. Many migrants have access to work on a farm but there is definitely a limited amount of farms in Los Angeles nowadays. Even smaller farming towns like Santa Clarita have reduced the amount of citrus trees that is grown over the last many decades.
Upon reading the first part of the book I couldn’t help but laugh at some of the character’s absurd behavior. For example, it seems like Delaney has never been around someone who is different than him. The fact that he worries about the conditions of his car and insurance rate left me completely shocked. While some of the events seem rather farfetched and unbelievable at times, it is not far from the truth. While Candido could be seen as stubborn for not wanting to go to the hospital, it is actually fear that is the driving factor behind his decision. I have various friends and acquaintances that would much rather take home remedies instead of going to the doctor, due to high hospital bills and fear of being deported. The fact that the gender roles between Delany and his wife also caught my attention, since she is the breadwinner and he is the one who takes care of the house. Whenever the coyote killed the family dog, I just imagined my little town Taft, which is surrounded by barren fields patrolled by coyotes. Overall I’ve liked the book, it is quite entertaining.
ReplyDeleteAs I read the first chapter of the Tortilla Curtain, I immediately thought of the multiple times I've crossed the border with my parents after a trip to Mexico. The tension between the novel’s two main characters after they stand in front of one another for the first time, studying and making assumptions of one another, reminded me of the times when border patrol would do their routine inspection of my family and our vehicle when we were about to cross the border. I remember being about nine years old and watching a large man in sunglasses tap random parts of our car in search of secret compartments that might hold illegal substances and then being questioned about my intentions. I was so scared and didn’t completely understand what was going on. Even though I was born in the U.S., fluent in English, and clearly not guilty of anything, I was so nervous and stuttered as this big scary guy went straight towards me and out of the three of us in the car, only asked me questions. While reading the first chapter I could only imagine how disoriented and stressed out Candido was being confronted by a man who had just hurt him. In a sense, I was able to put myself in Candido’s shoes and feel the hostility.
ReplyDeleteDuring the first couple of paragraphs, I cannot help, but to think that Delaney is so self centered, materialistic, and no caring regarding the accident he was involved in. It makes me sad to think that people can truly allow material items become so important that they being to be no caring of humanity. This book portrays many people today and not just Delaney, T.C. Boyle simply attaches a name to the thousands who truly live and believe this way. The first association comes to me when Boyle begins to explain the roadway of the accident in great detail. I associate this roadway with Hwy 1 because it is one of my favorite Highways to drive. When I drive Hwy 1 off the California Pacific Coast I cannot help, but think, if I am bumped by another vehicle on this narrow highway I will go down into the Pacific Coast’s crashing waters against the sharp rocky coastline standing no chance of avoiding my fate. On the other hand, if I am going north on Hwy 1 the only other outcome is to hit the side of the mountain causing a rockslide or just completely ruining your vehicle and possibly dying from the impact. I know, weird how this simple explanation of Boyle’s detail takes me to an associational thought so dark and dreary. Yet the Pacific Coast Hwy is one of my favorite places to be. I realize that there are many immigrants in California, my own father is an immigrant, and this book helps me associate my father and what he has endured in order to be where he is today. He is such a strong individual and I am thankful that fieldwork took a chance on him because it was his start to a new life for him and his family in Mexico. Boyle really brings together the comparisons of both walks of life through the American, Delaney and the immigrant Candido. Both men are completely opposite in walks of life yet Boyle really does a great job of bringing their perspectives on life, racism, struggle, and immigration together. So far I like this read and has not put me to sleep yet, being a Californian it is simple to stay tuned to the reading.
ReplyDeleteAfter I read the first few chapters, I was shocked at how Delaney handled the situation. It’s understandable that in the panic Delaney would not think clearly but leaving someone hurt on the side of the road, no matter the race, is unethical, in my opinion. I don’t know how I would handle the situation and hopefully I’ll never have to. When I was reading about America being lost in Los Angles, it reminded me of the time I sort of got lost. After buy a car in a city near Los Angles, I don’t remember the name, my cousin and I were heading back to Bakersfield. It was dark and it was our first time driving in LA. As we headed back, the lane we were in led us in a completely different direction. After a long detour, we eventually got back on the right road, with the help of a gps. It was a memorable experience, but it cannot be entirely compared to what America experienced. She was in a totally new country, didn’t speak the language and didn’t have anyone to help her get back home.
ReplyDeleteThis book has been an interesting read so far. Initially, it reminded me of the accident scene at the end of The Great Gatsby. I got excited because I really enjoy that era and reading about stories that have similar themes. However, Tortilla Curtain seems like it is a more present day novel. This story will be interesting to continue to read because immigration is such a hot topic in today’s society. It is even more of an important topic because we live in California. This story made me sad to see how Delaney thought of the immigrant that he hit. It seems that he feels nothing towards the man as he just throws a twenty-dollar bill at him like that will be enough to suffice all the damage he has caused. It makes me sad that the immigrants are basically living in the bushes. It also makes me think of how strict our police force is about that here in Kern County, so I wonder how they get away with sleeping and living in the brush. I look forward to continuing to read this book and see where the story goes. My heart definitely breaks knowing that people are treated like this. Sometimes I feel so spoiled and guilty with the life I have been given. It is easy to forget that not everyone has it as good as I do. It definitely makes you really humble and appreciative of what you have.
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