Tortilla Curtain by T C Boyle
In the Tortilla Curtain, T.C. Boyle exhibits the interaction of Mexicans and Americans along the southern border of the United States. ... An incredible amount of symbolism is represented within the pages of Boyle’s work. The image of the sky and of birds that T.C. Boyle displays becomes repeated regularly during the novel and symbolizes a place with no boundaries where its dwellers are free to move where they please. ... The “tortilla curtain” is such a borderline that exists between the United States and Mexico. T. C. Boyle points out that the sky is the one place where no boundaries await its travelers. ... A passage concerned with Candido’s pure hope for the future says, “…and though they didn’t have a roof over their heads and nothing was settled, he’d felt happy for the first time since they’d left home…the sky overhead was his, all his, and there was nobody to dispute him for it. ... On page 150, Boyle expands on this thought when he says, "He handed the ticket to one of the slim young sprinting Mexicans in shiny red vests and glanced up at the roof of the restaurant, where a string of starlings stared hopefully back at him. ... This hope dies in the eyes and hearts of the characters in The Tortilla Curtain. ... T.C. Boyle gives hope in the form of the birds, but soon again that hope, the bird, also dies at the hand of Candido.