while simultaneously keeping nonwhites in subordinated positions. This
approach argues that Kyra and Delaney Mossbacher enjoy forms of unearned
privilege of which they are largely unaware but intensely protective. Despite
their self-perception as people of enlightened, liberal leanings, the Mossbach-
ers increasingly identify loss of privilege (material goods, safety, access to
nature) with the presence of nonwhites. The Arroyo Blanco homeowners build
a gate and then walls to keep out the undifferentiated undesirables (both coy-
otes and the poor), though ironically it is these privileged few who abuse the
Mexican laborers (America is paid for fewer hours than she works, Candido is
cheated out of a day’s pay, white teens destroy the couple’s camp) and impede
the Rincons’ ability to achieve financial stability. For a more complete discus-
sion, consult “On Whiteness in T. Coraghessan Boyle’s The Tortilla Curtain,”
by Heather J. Hicks. Do the Mossbachers enjoy privileges because they are
white, or is their race incidental to their material success?- Scholars engaged in studies of immigration into the United States from
Mexico and other Latin American countries have found The Tortilla Curtain
to be an illuminating literary text against which to read historical, political,
and social concerns. In such readings, the walled and gated community of
Arroyo Blanco Estates becomes a microcosmic representation of the dominant
culture of the United States. For example, like the United States as a whole,
the residents of Arroyo Blanco—note how all homes in the development must
be painted in one of three shades of white—not only financially exploit des-
perately needy immigrants like Candido but also hypocritically fear and blame
the poor for imagined crimes. See Kathy Knapp’s article, cited below, for more
information on both the phenomenon of the gated community and American
immigration policy over the decades of the twentieth century as both relate to
The Tortilla Curtain. Are your ideas about immigration altered by this novel?
RESOURCES
Primary Works
T. C. Boyle <www.tcboyle.com/> [accessed 13 November 2009].
Boyle’s official website; it includes interviews, reviews, summaries, and more.
“T. C. Boyle: Author of Drop City Talks with Robert Birnbaum,” identitytheory.
com (19 March 2003) http://www.identitytheory.com/interviews/birn-
baum94.html [accessed 13 November 2009].
A lengthy interview covering several of Boyle’s works.
“This Monkey, My Back” http://www.tcboyle.com/page2.html?4 [accessed 13
November 2009].
Boyle discusses his mentors and his method.
Criticism
Peter Freese, “T. Coraghessan Boyle’s The Tortilla Curtain: A Case Study in the
Genesis of Xenophobia,” in English Literatures in International Contexts,