Soul Sistahs - America and the Coyote

My vote for MVP of the book may not be an obvious choice, but I believe America’s character is critical to the story - specifically, her scene in part two, chapter, two where she finds herself alone in the woods.  I mean, while everyone is out there fighting and grinding, she is forced to hide in the bushes. She has no money. No roof over her head. Her husband can’t do anything right. She’s just been raped, and she’s pregnant! And it doesn’t look like it’s going to get any better any time soon. This is why I vote for America: It’s not because I feel sympathy for her; it’s because

I’m inspired by her faith. She deals with the adversity in her own way. When things get rough for the other characters in the novel, they have a tendency to blame others. Delaney becomes obsessed with Candido. Candido is more and more frustrated with all gavachos. Kyra is ready and capable of killing anyone who gets in the way her business dealings. There is a lot of anger to go around. It’s a rat race out there!

But while all this is going down, America is more “Down to Earth.” She seems to be the one who has a special connection to who she is.

I love the scene where she is sitting there all by herself in the shadows of the woods. It must be both frustrating and frightening . She’s tired and hungry and hurt, and she hears something but she doesn’t know what. It’s kind of like a dream, but it’s real – she’s staring face to face with a coyote. And instead of screaming or panicking, “she looked at that coyote so long and so hard that she began to hallucinate, to imagine herself inside those eyes looking out…”

America, then, in my opinion, is most valuable to the novel because she connects us to nature. Her spirit seems to rise above all man-made obstacles.  Without her, the novel does not distinguish itself. It basically is about money and property values and immigration controversy, things we could read about in the newspaper on a daily basis.

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Delaney Off the Rails - Crazy Train

You may have heard this: one out of every hundred people you meet is going to be a psychopath. You may stand behind one in line at the 7/11.

You may sit next to one in math class. These are people who don't think or feel the same way you do. Whatever they show you is not going to be their true self. They are manipulative, dishonest, hypocritical. They are charming, seductive and delusional. Whatever they say to you, they think something else. In the novel, The Tortilla Curtain, Delaney Mossbacher Delaney appears to be a man of high integrity. He lives in upper-class suburban community near Los Angeles with his wife and son. He is a loving father. He is a nature lover. He describes himself as a liberal humanist.

He cares! But, on the way to his recycling center in his Japanese import, his world is turned upside down and inside out when he accidently hits an illegal Mexican immigrant walking along the side of the road. He finds the man bleeding and on his back flailing his arms like a rag doll. Delaney tries to help, but the man wants nothing of it. “It was crazy to refuse treatment like that, just crazy,” Delaney thinks. “But he had. And that meant he was illegal – go to the doctor, get deported. There was desperation in that, a gulf of sadness that took Delaney out of himself for a long moment...” (12). But only a moment, or, only like 10-12 chapters. From here on, a gradual change comes over Delaney. He begins to notice more and more Mexicans on the streets. He sees them working. He sees them in the stores. He sees them on the trails he hikes. Although he vehemently distances himself form the racial sentiments of his neighbors, he can’t avoid this feeling like he’s choking on it. He feels under attack. He “was drawn so much closer to the black working heart of the world he’d ever dreamed possible” (352).

By the end of the novel he realizes he has become angry and vindictive. He’s crossed over to the other side. On the last pages, we see Delaney headed down his beloved nature trails, not with a walking stick in hand, but a gun. Deep down, I know he wants to stop what he’s doing, but he can’t. If he wasn’t a racist at the beginning of the book, he is one now. He’s my MVP.   He is out of his bleeping mind!

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My Tortilla MVP - The Coyote

I nominate the coyote, or the coyotes, as the Most Valuable Part of the Tortilla Curtain. They may only show up a few times in the book, but their impact and significance is huge. Like Delaney says in his column, “They are cunning, versatile, hungry and unstoppable.”   I’m into “relentless.” They make me think about the book on another level.

I know. I can imagine some readers objecting to me choosing an animal over any one of the main characters in the novel. After all, T.C. Boyle strived to create deep and well-rounded characters that we could all root for. Each one of them displays qualities that deserve some mention in this discussion.

However, to me, the coyote rises above them all. The coyote is more than an animal or a character; in this case, he (or she) is a symbol. The coyote in Tortilla Curtain represents the forces of nature. Who or what is going to top that?

In part two, chapter five, Delaney writes about the coyote with awe and respect. He knows that there is nothing anyone could do to stop this animal. The coyotes have this special innate ability to adjust to their environment. When there is no water, they will chew through PVC pipe. When there is no food, they’ll find it in your backyard. When you trap or kill them, they’ll simply repopulate and come back at you in bigger numbers.

That’s why it was important that not only did the coyote take the one dog, but after the Mossbachers took the preventive measures to build the wall, the coyote came back and took the other. On both occasions, Delaney watched the attacks with both shock and awe. He knew he was witness to the forces of nature, and there was nothing that he or anyone else could do about it.
In this way, the coyotes made me think of immigration in a much different way. Instead of objectifying Mexicans, I think Boyle draws up a much bigger picture for us to consider:
We're all in this together.

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