The Tortula Curtain

Class is what differentiates people from one another. The levels of working class, middle class, upper-middle class and upper class classify men and women into certain stereotypes. In T.C. Boyle’s The Tortilla Curtain we see the story of two men and how one man struggles to do everything he possibly can to survive and provide for his family and another man with everything to satisfy his wants and needs. T.C. Boyle’s The Tortilla Curtain can be read as a story about class relations. Class similarities and differences between the Rincons and the Mossbachers will be discussed in the following to illustrate this point. Driving through the Topanga Canyon, Delaney Mossbacher, an upper-middles class American is abruptly shocked by the fact that
he ran over a man. This man is subsequently learned to be Candido Rincon, an illegal immigrant from Mexico who is working for the American dream. Following the accident Delaney gives Candido twenty dollars of blood money as a way of compensating for running him over when he figures out that he is an illegal immigrant living in the canyon. Candido Rincon lives in the canyon with his wife America who is pregnant with their child while Delaney Mossbacher lives in a gated community called Arroyo Blanco Estates with his wife Kyra and his stepson Jordan. After Candido’s car accident he is not able to work so America goes to the labor exchange to find work, after a couple of days, she gets a job as a maid but not before meeting Jose the man who later on rapes her. Candido has a streak of bad luck after his accident, he can not find work due to the labor exchange being closed, he gets robbed by other Mexicans, and when he finally catches a break and gets a free turkey from two “gringos” at the market for thanksgiving he ends up cau