The Tortilla Curtain Symbolism PDF

Preview

Summary

How does symbolism operate to reinforce themes of loss/lack, fear and desire in The Tortilla Curtain? (2000 words)...

Description

CC4301 – Introduction to Literature CW2. Student #1602919 How does symbolism operate to reinforce themes of loss/lack, fear and desire in The Tortilla Curtain? (2000 words) From a psychoanalytic stance, The Tortilla Curtain (hereafter ‘the novel’) has clear symbols of loss/lack, fear and desire that are associated with the two main families. These symbols highlight the psychological functioning of the characters in the text, and highlight the key textual themes of class differences, and race issues in suburban USA. These key symbols are the use of the coyote, the importance of dreaming, the American Dream (as a signifier), and the wall. This symbolism operates by portraying the conscious and unconscious desires of the groups and characters in the novel and revealing motives for actions, and how the characters’ interactions with these symbols reveal their relation to these key themes. The American Dream, the desire to achieve financial stability, comfort, and to have a nuclear family has long been a staple desire associated with Americans, and the characters in the novel are no exception. Candido and America move to the United States in the hopes of pursuing this dream, obtaining a nice apartment, and being part of the consumerist society. Lacanian psychoanalysis suggests that “all desire is conditioned by that initial sense of having lost a primary […] wholeness.” (Ryan, 2005: 37) This is key in explaining Candido’s persistence despite everything that happens against him throughout the novel (being hit by a car, being mugged, losing his savings.) He is motivated by the symbol of the American Dream, this symbolises what he lacks, what he desires, what Delaney and Kyra already have. Candido unconsciously believes that achieving this will help him find “wholeness,” which the Lacanian language of symbols suggests will never be achieved. Consciously, however, he feels the need to provide for his family, to maintain his promise of making life better for America, this ties in with masculine ideas of being an adequate provider for his family. Ryan (2005: 38) discusses that a

CC4301 – Introduction to Literature CW2. Student #1602919 psychoanalytic reading lends itself to dealing with issues of “separation, loss, [and] boundaries.” Candido quite prominently experiences boundaries, the one between Arroyo Blanco and his makeshift shack, the one between the US and Mexico, the one between Whites and Mexicans, and the one between what he lacks, and what he desires. These boundaries feed into how Candido feels about his place in America, he felt that “he was a criminal for daring to want […] the basic human necessities” (Boyle, T.C. 1995: 316) His lack of basic comfort has led to a destruction of his self-image, which has caused him to have a hatred for the situation he was in, and transforms his unconscious fear of the “norteamericans” (Boyle, T.C. 1995: 316) to an active hatred for them and their possession of “all the riches of the world” (Boyle, T.C. 1995: 316) Candido also experiences separation and loss from his family, the family that he leaves in Mexico, and the family he attempted to create with his wife. The feeling of inadequacy he feels as a result of this is crippling and dehumanising. The Coyote is a clear signifier of the plight of the Mexican immigrants. Delaney notes that “the coyote is […] only trying to survive” (Boyle, T.C. 1995: 338) in a column he writes after the death of the first dog. The way the middle classes interact with the coyote through the novel directly links with the fear that they have for the Mexican immigrants. Despite the previous quote being from Delaney’s column, he too eventually supports the construction of the wall, but directly threatens Candido’s life at the end of the novel. Delaney’s opposition to the wall is less of a battle with the residents of Arroyo Blanco, but more of a battle with his unconscious desire to force the immigrant out, to protect his neighbourhood, and his fear of the perceived danger he has of the Mexicans. Delaney also unconsciously fears the loss of his possessions (which he directly links with his whiteness, as Hicks [2003] suggests.) This fear of loss results in his id unconsciously driving him to dehumanise the Mexicans, while the morals

CC4301 – Introduction to Literature CW2. Student #1602919 that he attempts to reinforce throughout the novel would indicate that he should be directly opposed to this. To this extent, the coyote is something that symbolises the immigrant, and in the way they are treated by the white middle class, are seen as directly equal to the animal. Candido and America do reflect the behaviours of the coyote at points in the novel, this reflection of behaviour shows a return to animalistic traits and a return to wildlife as a result of being subject to inhumane situations, and experiencing severe desperation; a need to maintain survival. Both the Coyote, and the Mexicans will do anything that is required in an attempt to survive, even though their survival is threatened by the fear the residents of Arroyo Blanco have of losing their neighbourhood. These similarities are drawn upon throughout the whole novel. On page 14, Delaney notes how Candido’s eyes “locked on him like a set of Jaws” (Boyle, T.C. 1995) and then towards the end, Candido jumps over the fences of Arroyo Blanco in order to maintain materials (including dog food, which dehumanises them even further) that would help prevent their deaths, they are on the edge of survival, the ultimate loss and fear. They have nothing left to lose, but still lose. Lacanian theory suggests that a Signifier is merely “something capable of bestowing meaning” (Hook, 2006: 63) and that often “the self seems to pass into objects.” (Hook, 2006: 63) To the extent of the novel, “Coyote” simply begins to signify desperation, lack, desire, and an animalistic need to survive. Considering what the symbol of a Coyote seems to signify, Candido and America almost become Coyotes themselves, especially in the eyes of Delaney. Candido becomes the “one coyote, who makes his living on the fringe of [the] community.” (Boyle, T.C. 1995:335) The Coyote also brings emphasis to the suburbanisation of California and the development of these middle class white neighbourhoods. Previously, these areas were undeveloped and belonged to nature. However now that the suburbs have been created and

CC4301 – Introduction to Literature CW2. Student #1602919 nature and the wild has been given the status of the other, the vast culture of development and expansion has “persuaded white residents that the suburbs were their birth right,” (Gill, J. 2011:261) which makes them “no-go areas” for the Mexicans, and the wild animals that previously belonged there. The neighbourhood acts almost as if the wild is intruding on them, they have convinced themselves that this is the case, when they are really trespassing on the natural habitat of the coyote. The creation of the suburbs becomes the symbol of the American middle class, a signifier of affluence. Arroyo Blanco operates as a symbol of how the American Dream that Candido and America are pursuing works unforgivably in the favour of the white middle class, enabling the white to achieve their desire by fuelling the loss and preventing the achievement of desires by others. “Whiteness,” while not a physical symbol in the novel, is certainly a signifier by Lacanian terms, and what it signifies is greatly important, especially to the faux sense of “wholeness” that the ego of Kyra and Delaney attempt to present. “Whiteness” is a collection of signifiers that “metonymically point to the lost sense of wholeness” (Ryan, M. 2005:37) that everyone feels. In the novel, whiteness is not a physical symbol (as previously mentioned) but is presented through a series of symbols, as Hicks (2003) discusses, Arroyo Blanco means “white stream,” Delaney and Kyra drive a white car, and they own white dogs. Furthermore, Hicks notes that they can “choose one of three shades of paint for their house, as long as it is white.” (Hicks, H. 2003: 49) Associated with their whiteness is a sense of control, which the Coyotes and the Mexicans threaten. The extremity of this need for control can be seen when Delaney discusses the strict “covenants, conditions and restrictions” (Boyle, T.C. 1995:50) that the houses all abide by. The fragility of this control is demonstrated when the first dog is taken by the Coyote, Delaney observes that Kyra and Jordan were “like survivors of a shipwreck adrift on a raft.”

CC4301 – Introduction to Literature CW2. Student #1602919 (Boyle, T.C. 1995:67) Hook uses this disruption to the order and perfectionism of the Mossbacher’s daily life to demonstrate that “the whiteness they enjoy is circumstantial and provisional.” (Hicks, H. 2003: 50) Despite the Signifiers and the order they create to maintain their Signified “whiteness”, it is ultimately inevitable that “the relation between signified and signifier is not absolutely stable;” (Hook, D. 2006: 66) in essence, their whiteness is not fixed, and this fuels their fear of losing it to the encroaching Coyotes. The wall acts as a symbol in the novel, a very important symbol of fear. It is closely related to the idea that Delaney and Kyra fear the illegal Mexicans and the danger they can cause. While Delaney often portrays himself as a liberal character, he ultimately allows himself to be overcome by the fear of loss. Resulting in his obsessive nature at the end of the novel, bent on ending Candido’s life to protect himself from the perceived threat. The wall is originally a suggestion to keep the coyotes out, but as previously discusses, the coyotes are ultimately seen as being equal to the immigrants, a desire to keep one out is a desire to keep the other out. The concept of boundaries in the novel links the themes of loss/lack, fear and desire. One side of the wall contains those who have comfort, privilege, who have achieved the “American Dream,” this is Delaney and Kyra, they have this but they also have the fear of loss, a fear catapulted by the loss of their dogs, which is also a loss of a symbol that asserts their whiteness, and a loss of the order that they use to convey their sense of self, and wholeness. The other side of the wall is the wild, untamed land that Delaney and America must attempt to survive in. This side of the wall is that which contains lack and desire. A lack of comfort, a lack of basic amenities, and a lack of security. The desire for this however, is what motivates them to keep trying throughout the whole novel. At the end of the novel, Candido has lost absolutely everything, showing that his pursuit

CC4301 – Introduction to Literature CW2. Student #1602919 of the American Dream was ultimately futile, and that his attempt to complete himself and to obtain “wholeness” was fruitless. The wall, whiteness, and the wild are all used as symbols by Boyle to create an emphasis on the differences between the two main families in the novel. However, these symbols also operate by interacting differently with the families, each symbol has an impact on the lives, the fears, and the desires of every character, but the way they interact with this symbol is different, and often serves to highlight the psychology associated with these characters. The Mexicans succumb to an animalistic need for survival, beginning with the desire to achieve the American Dream, but moving towards the need for basic survival. The Mossbachers have the physical amenities they desire but further desire order and routine which they fear the loss of and go to extremes to attempt to maintain.

Total – 1873 words Bibliography Boyle, T.C. (1995) ‘The Tortilla Curtain’, Bloomsbury (2011) Gill, J. (2011) ‘Space, Gender, Race: Josephine Miles and the Poetics of the California Suburbs’ Western American Literature, vol. 46, no. 3: 250 – 71. Hicks, H. (2003) ‘On Whiteness in T Coraghessan Boyle’s The Tortilla Curtain. Critique, vol.45, no. 1: 43 – 64. Hook, D. (2006). ‘Lacan, the meaning of the phallus and the ‘sexed’ subject’ London: LSE Research Online. 60 - 94 Ryan, M. (2005) ‘Psychoanalysis.’ Literary Theory: A Practical Introduction. Oxford: Blackwell. 35 - 51...