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The Tortilla Curtain - Part III

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Inhalt und Analyse​

Chapter 1 - Content​

  • Delaney wants to drop off his recyclables at the local recivling center
  • Hits Candido (undocumented illegal immigrant) with this car
  • Candido wanted to purchase food at a local store
  • As Candido gets hit, he refuses medical help offers from Delaney
  • Delaney sees this refusal as a proof of his immigration status
  • Delaney finds out Candido lives in the canyon below, which is seen as wilderness by Delaney —° He gets angry on Candido for that because he is polluting the wilderness
  • Delaney realizes he could be sued and that he almost killed Candido
  • gives Candido 20 Dollars, abordones him „poor son of a bitch“

Chapter 1 - Analysis​

  • Delaney takes his care to the Acura dealership to have it repaired (it suffered damager after the accident) —° He tells the car salesman that he hit a DOG
  • After dropping off the car he calls his wife Kyra and tells her what happened (the truth) —° She asks not about the car at first, asks for how he is
  • Krya wants Delaney to call Jack Jardine, the family attorney (and president of the Arroyo Blanco Estates Home Owmners Association) for advice ———————————————————— —° First chapter gives important insights into Delaneys character
  • Has only a basic level of social responsibility (for example he recycles things)
  • Considers the victim only as last after impact (first thought was about car, then insurance rates, only THEN the victim)
  • Delaney recgonizes in some way that what he has done is WRONG —° Even though the man will probaply survive and it will not have any negative consequences for Delaney, he still „couldnt shake the image of him“
  • Delaneys inability to emathize with Candido seems to be because of is defsire to preserve nature and his horror that Candido is camping in the canyon --> Thinks that Candido is littering and running the risk of natural disaster ("since the canyon was a tinderbox this time of the year")
  • BUT: Candido is not actively littering into the environent and is just crossing the road
  • Delaney only thinks that Candido is a criminal who is "turn[ing] th whole world into a garbage dump"
  • --> Delaney rather quickly judges others by simple things
  • It also suggests that Delaney is not actually upset at Candidos presence from an environmental perspective, bit it might be easyer for him to convince himself that Candido is bad --> Less fault would go to him in his world

Chapter 2 - Content​

  • The fire is terrifying for Candido, but at first America doesnt realize what is happening -- The turkey had actually lifet her mood
  • Once she understands the danger, she and Candido have no choice but to flee the camp
  • In yet another stroke of terrible lock, America goes into labour in the middle of the fire and the evacuation
  • In a strange twist, the Mossbachers cat, Dame Edith has also fled the fire and finds America
  • America looks at the cat and says: "You. You will be my midwife"

Chapter 2 - Analysis​

  • Despite everything they went through, Candido and America never managed to find proper housing before the birth
  • Noew they have also lost their temporary camp in the canyon
  • America is going into mlabour while Candido edesperately searches for help -- though its unclear what help he cloud even find
  • As before, they cannot go to a hospital or seek proper medical care because they fear being deportet and have no money
  • The situation is deeply ironic -- alsmost darkly comic, if it werent so tragic:
    • America goes into labour at the worst possivle moment, in the middle of a fire
    • Candido can do almost nothing to help her -- he is not a midwife and he is not her mother
    • It seems like she will have to give birth alone, with only a cat for company
  • The presence of Dame Edith, -- Kyra and Delaneys cat -- is also meaningful:
    • It shows how connected the two families are, even though they have never truely met
    • Yet neiter famliy is aware of this connection at all

Chapter 3 - Content​

  • The residents of Arroyo Blanco have evacuated because of the fire and are watching from behind police barriers, their cars packed with their most valuable belongings
  • While waiting, Delaney and his neighbour Jack Cherrystone spot two Hispanic men — the same two Delaney had seen while out hiking
  • Delaney is suddenly filled with intense hatred toward them
  • He and Jack blame the two men for starting the fire and report them to the police as trespassers and likely arsonists
  • The men are handcuffed, and other residents begin shouting racial slurs at them
  • When one of the men spits at Delaney, Delaney attacks him and has to be pulled back by Jack
  • The fire eventually changes direction and burns out on its own, leaving Arroyo Blanco completely untouched
  • When everyone returns home, they discover that Dominick Flood had not been flirting with Kit at all — he had secretly slipped his ankle tracker into her bag, using the chaos of the fire to escape

Chapter 3 - Analysis​

  • By this point, every last trace of Delaney's open-minded, progressive outlook is gone
  • He has become exactly like the other wealthy men of Arroyo Blanco — quick to blame Mexican migrants for everything that goes wrong
  • There is a dark irony in the situation:
    • The fire actually was started by an undocumented immigrant — but it was Candido, who is honest, hardworking, and only trying to build a better life for his family
    • It was a pure accident caused by having no proper shelter or kitchen — not malice
    • The two men being blamed and arrested are not responsible for the fire at all
  • The real criminal in this chapter is Dominick Flood:
    • He deliberately used a vulnerable woman's need for attention to hide his tracker in her bag
    • He then used a natural disaster to make his escape
    • This is a calculated, selfish act — far worse than anything the migrants have done
  • Yet the residents of Arroyo Blanco are completely blind to all of this:
    • While an actual convicted criminal escapes right under their noses, they are busy blaming two innocent Hispanic men for a fire that didn't even damage their homes
  • The reader is left with complicated feelings about the two men being arrested:
    • They are innocent of starting the fire — but they are almost certainly the men who raped América
    • Being punished for something they didn't do while escaping punishment for what they actually did feels like a twisted kind of justice

Chapter 4 - Content​

  • With only Candido and the Mossbachers' cat Dame Edith for company, América gives birth
  • It is a girl, and América names her Socorro
  • Desperate to provide for his family, Candido climbs over the wall into the evacuated Arroyo Blanco neighbourhood
  • He steals food and basic materials to build a simple shelter, including wooden pallets and the roof of a greenhouse

Chapter 4 - Analysis​

  • Candido knows what he is doing is wrong, but he sees no other choice
  • One of the most powerful moments in the chapter is when he steals from a dog's kennel
  • He asks himself whether it can really be wrong to take from a dog when he is a human being with a wife and a newborn daughter to provide for
  • He looks around and sees the reality of his situation — a dog is literally living better than his entire family
  • At this point, with his family's survival at stake, nothing feels off limits to him
  • When Dame Edith the cat reappears, Candido calls out to it — because he needs meat for a stew
  • This raises an uncomfortable question for the reader:
    • The cat stayed with América through her labour and kept her company
    • But it is also the last of Kyra's pets
    • In a way, it feels fitting that everything connected to the Mossbacher household ends up being lost — just as Candido and América have lost everything too

Chapter 5 - Content​

  • Once it is safe, Kyra visits the De Ros property and is horrified to find it completely destroyed by the fire
  • Both she and Delaney are furious that the two men arrested for starting the fire were released due to lack of evidence
  • On top of this, the stucco wall around Arroyo Blanco has been covered in graffiti on both sides of the entrance gate
  • The residents assume undocumented migrants are responsible
  • Delaney is determined to find out who did it, so he sets up night vision cameras
  • The first images he gets back show Candido near the fence — and Delaney becomes fixated on bringing him to justice

Chapter 5 - Analysis​

  • Despite having no real proof, the residents of Arroyo Blanco are completely convinced that undocumented immigrants are behind everything that has gone wrong
  • This anger builds and builds until Delaney decides to take matters into his own hands — setting up cameras and treating the whole thing like a personal mission or vendetta
  • He feels that because the police didn't handle things the way he wanted, it is now up to him
  • There is a strong irony here:
    • Delaney was originally against both the gate and the wall, seeing them as symbols of division and hatred
    • But now that the wall has been vandalised, he becomes obsessed with finding the person responsible — spending significant time and money to do so
  • The chapter ends with an important question for the reader:
    • Has Delaney genuinely changed over the course of the novel?
    • Or was this version of Delaney always there underneath — and was his earlier open-mindedness just a mask he wore to seem like a good, progressive person?

Chapter 6 - Content​

  • Candido has very little work — he tries standing outside the post office as a day labourer but is eventually told to leave
  • He spends most of his time collecting cans to recycle for small amounts of money
  • To provide for his family, he taps into the Arroyo Blanco sprinkler system for water and steals fruit and vegetables from neighbourhood gardens
  • América is becoming more and more convinced that they should have stayed in Mexico
  • Despite this, she is a loving and devoted mother to Socorro
  • She pushes Candido to take the baby to a doctor — but he refuses, knowing they have no money and that visiting a doctor risks them being reported and deported

Chapter 6 - Analysis​

  • Things are very bad for the Rincón family, but they haven't completely fallen apart
  • Socorro, their newborn daughter, gives them a reason to keep going
  • Going back to Mexico is no longer a simple option either — Socorro was born in the United States
  • But the situation is becoming more and more desperate:
    • Candido is now so worn down that he says he doesn't even care if immigration officers pick him up
    • América can no longer work because she is caring for the baby
    • With the labour exchange shut, there are almost no opportunities left for Candido
    • Two lives — América's and Socorro's — now depend entirely on him
  • Despite all of this, Candido grows bolder out of sheer desperation:
    • He directly approaches people going in and out of the post office, asking for work
    • He continues stealing from the residents of Arroyo Blanco to keep his family alive
  • The reader is not meant to judge Candido for stealing:
    • He has been pushed to the very edge of what a person can endure
    • Everything he does, he does to keep his child and wife alive

Chapter 7 - Content​

  • Delaney spots Candido on the road and stops his car to confront him, convinced that Candido is the one who painted the graffiti on the wall
  • By stopping in the middle of the road, he causes another driver to rear-end his new car
  • In the chaos that follows, Candido slips away and escapes
  • After the crash, Delaney searches for Candido but can't find him
  • He decides to get his gun and confront Candido directly
  • But first he wants proof, so he goes to Jack Cherrystone's house to use his darkroom and develop the camera images
  • When he sees the photos clearly, he discovers that the graffiti was actually done by Jack Jardine Jr. — not Candido
  • Despite this, Delaney decides it doesn't matter — in his mind, Candido is still guilty of something
  • He heads out with his gun to find him anyway
  • Meanwhile, Kyra comes across another impressive house being sold privately and tours it, hoping to win the listing for herself

Chapter 7 - Analysis​

  • Up until now, there has been no sign that Delaney is a violent person — in fact, he felt uncomfortable when Jack Jr. bullied Candido in the car park
  • But now he is heading out with a gun, intending to frighten Candido into leaving Arroyo Blanco for good
  • This feels like the final stage of his transformation — he has now fully become one of the wealthy, prejudiced men he once looked down on
  • Does Delaney actually plan to kill Candido? No — the reader is told he knows he would never use the gun
  • But the gun still means something very important:
    • It is the ultimate symbol of power and control
    • It represents the huge gap between people like Delaney, who have the power to destroy or to show mercy, and people like Candido, who have no power at all

Chapter 8 - Content​

  • It is raining heavily, and the makeshift shelter Candido built offers very little protection from the weather
  • América finally opens up and admits to Candido that she was raped
  • She also tells him she believes the infection she got from the rape may be the reason Socorro appears to be blind
  • Delaney tracks down Candido, América, and Socorro in their shelter made of stolen wooden pallets
  • Before he can confront them, a mudslide hits and a flash flood sweeps away the shelter, everyone inside it, and Delaney too
  • In the end, Socorro is lost — and is presumed dead
  • Both América and Candido survive
  • Candido spots Delaney struggling in the water and saves him

Chapter 8 - Analysis​

  • Despite everything Delaney has done — hitting Candido with his car, coming after him with a gun, and representing a world that has treated Candido and América terribly — Candido still saves him
  • This final act shows that Candido is fundamentally a good person
  • No matter how many times the world has knocked him down, he continues to do the right thing
  • Yet the suffering of the Rincón family does not stop even at the very end:
    • Their home is destroyed
    • Their daughter is presumably gone forever
    • The reader may even find themselves wondering whether, as heartbreaking as it is, Socorro's death spares her from a life of poverty with no way to care for a blind child
  • There is a deep and bitter irony in the ending:
    • Candido saves the very man who nearly killed him once before and came to threaten him with a gun
    • But Candido could not do anything other than help — because being good and doing what is right is simply who he is
    • This makes him the complete opposite of everything the residents of Arroyo Blanco believed him to be