Sugarcoating Reality In 'The Tortilla Curtain'

Sugarcoating Reality
Ever since the beginning, people have been rationalizing their environment’s; even during the Holocaust people have been trying to justify their surroundings, blaming themselves for what was occurring. Often times when a human goes through anything unfathomable, they have to find a way to comprehend the situation. Delaney, just like the prisoners of the Holocaust rationalized his environment to help their situation seem better, to avoid the true explanation, and to understand what is occurring. In order to make a situation seem better, humans will often create excuses. Humans are not pleased with the feeling of guilt, therefore they will find... anyway to make themselves seem inculpable towards the situation. In The Tortilla Curtain, Delaney Mossbacher, after hitting Candido at Topanga canyon feels guilty. In an attempt to relieve his guilt, he oftentimes finds ways to make his situation seem
better. On page 11 Delaney rationalizes his thoughts by going over the wreck once again, “Maybe he was jumping to conclusions… just because he spoke Spanish didn’t make him a criminal… Yeah, sure and Delaney was the king of Siam.” Delaney wants the situation to be Candido’s fault in order to do so, he is making the assumption that Candido is a criminal. When Delaney decided to call his wife to inform her of his wreck, and he told her that he gave him twenty dollars. After expressing her disgust, he replied “I told you—He was Mexican…” his reply degraded him as a person by thinking it was acceptable to only give him twenty dollars, simply because... of his ethnicity. Delaney’s response is similar to the justification of the Jewish people during the Holocaust. Nazi officials, when asked why they were persecuting the Jews, they responded similarly, to which they would reply “they are Jews.” Later on Delaney tries to prove his belief that Candido is a criminal. In an attempt to rove this, he sets up cameras to catch him tagging the Arroyo Blanco wall. To Delaney’s surprise the real criminal was Jack Jr, even after learning this, Delaney still tries to blame Candido. “[It was] Jack Jr and an accomplice… that Mexican was guilty, sure he was, guilty of so much more than this.” In the end Delaney’s biggest goal was to prove that Candido was a criminal all with his biggest motivating factor, guilt. Another reason for humans to rationalize their environments is to avoid the true explanation.
Most people do not want to accept the truth, especially if the truth is bitter. In The Tortilla Curtain as Delaney has been denying his ideas. Throughout the novel Delaney has claimed to have liberal ideas, but his more conservative ideas begin to shine through more, as the Mexican invades his life. The more that Delaney thinks about Candido and the rest of the Mexicans coming into the country. He tries to deny the wall, because he doesn’t wish to keep anyone out. In the end he wishes to keep the Mexicans out, because they criminals. Delaney tries to deny these ideas; constant denial leads to his demise. People not wanting to accept the truth is a common theme for many, including those in the holocaust. Many people wouldn’t accept the fact that their people were being killed. Denying, while nice at the time, ends with a negative effect for most. The Europeans and Delaney both feel the negative Effects in the end, after the truth catches
up. The third reason for humans to rationalize their environments is to comprehend the situation. When a situation is hard to understand, people will try their hardest to understand it. In the end it helps bring resolution to the human brain. Delaney is seen trying to understand how the wreck occurred. One of his explanations is that Candido is a criminal. Delaney believes that Candido is a scam artist, who jumps in front of cars for money. During the holocaust people in the concentration camps began to believe what they were told by the guards, in order to understand why they were being imprisoned. The prisoners created these ideas similarly to Delaney’s ideas. They both started to believe these thoughts to help them understand why everything was happening to them. While Delaney’s situation was not as traumatizing, they share similar psychological reactions. Similarly to the prisoners of the Holocaust, Delaney rationalized his environment throughout the novel, to improve the situations appearance, avoid the truth, and comprehend the situation. In order to justify his surroundings, Delaney often makes excuses to make him seem like a better person. He mostly makes excuses after his wreck, due to his guilt. Not only does he make excuses in relation to the wreck, but also with his many encounters with immigrants. In conclusion Delaney’s rection to unfathomable events is similar to the reaction of people in concentration camps during World War II.