First, there's a blog entry (about 250 words) which will have you respond to a hopefully thought-provoking question.
Second, there's a reading. There’s no blog entry associated with this. Just read.
Third, there's a written response to the reading. Your reading and writing on the blog must be completed by the SATURDAY (by midnight) of the week in which the reading falls. This entry should be a long paragraph.
Sunday, April 21, 2013
WEEK FOUR WRITING ABOUT WHAT YOU READ
For this post, simply copy one sentence from Tortilla Curtain that you found particularly interesting. Write the sentence and then tell us why you find that part of what you read so compelling.
Deciding which one sentence to write about for this response was difficult. I was enamored with the book from start to finish; Boyle’s use of words and the imagery they create, the pain and love he conveys through them, and the pure finesse he has with the written word is nothing short of superb. Needless to say, my copy of The Tortilla Curtain is now quite dog-eared and abused. Little notes here and there, highlighted passages, etc. But the one line that really touched me with its perfection and beauty follows:
(From Part 3 “Socorro:- Chapter 2): “But then one day, lying there by the desolate stream like some dead thing, America heard a bird calling, three high-pitched notes and then a quavering sustained low-throated whistle that broke her heart with the sadness of it, over and over, that sad beautiful bird calling for her mate, her love, her husband, and America felt the sun touch her face like the hand of God, and the peephole snapped open like the shutter of a camera.”
We’ve seen America suffer, struggle, share her woes, hopes, and fears. She’s endured things throughout her and Candido’s journey that shatter your heart and make you question humanity. However, despite her unending misery, she has a moment of bliss, pure joy and beauty. It’s not the home she dreams of with gleaming floors, or a bag of money that will surely end all of their trouble. It’s simply the song of a bird in the filthy canyon she calls home. She looks past all of the pain and disappointment, and chooses to see the beauty in what is. America allows herself to be touched by the beauty here, and when I read this line, I could so easily feel it with her.
"Immediately, before he could even catch his breath, he was brushed back by the tailwind of a string of cars racing bumper-to-bumper up the canyon like some snaking malignant train" (4) To be honest, I don’t even know why this particular sentence caught my attention as much as it did. I believe that the imagery was part of the reason and to be frank, it was an impeccable scenery. The way the author described how the cars where rushing by and the how the wind knocked him backwards made me feel as if I was the one in Delaney's shoes. When reading this sentence I suddenly imagined cars passing by on a busy street, like on Rosedale, on a Monday evening (specifically 5 pm) when everyone is in a rush to go home from work; where all you can see is the brake lights. This passage also shows how the World does not stop just because something happens to us. Delaney was shocked by the fact that he had his real accident and with it involving a pedestrian and he was also taken by surprise because people did not stop to see what happened when he hit the guy with his car. It just seemed like it was invisible. As if he was imagining that he even had an accident. But it was very real. That's just how our society is. People rarely stop to sympathize with us because they have a life of their own, they have their own problems and their own accident to worry about. All we can do it concentrate on us because that's the only help that we can get
I actually locked myself out of my car once, and the only person to help me was a homeless man with a big heart. I actually make it a point in my life to help people when I can; That moment just opened my eyes to how selfish people can be ---it was quite disturbing. I enjoyed your passage very much!
"I gave him twenty bucks." "Twenty---?" ... "I told you-he was Mexican." (15)
I know it's not a sentence but I found this passage or rather dialogue extremely interesting because, it describes how Delaney views Mexicans. By saying "I gave him twenty bucks," and "I told you he was Mexican" shows (me) the reader how Delaney views himself, and how he views Mexicans. Delaney is ethnocentric indeed!
"Delaney felt his guilt turn to anger, to rage" (22).
It always floors me how people blame others for their wrong doing. Delaney just almost killed this Mexican man, and was feeling bad about almost taking his life. Once he realized that the man was going to live, he retracted his guilt and became anger with his victim. Since this man did not want to go to the doctor, Delaney gives him just twenty dollars for almost killing. He basically meant that $20.00 dollars was all that man's life was worth to him. People always try to blame someone else for their wrong doings, especially if they act in a way that goes against their morals. It is much easier for an offender to blame their victim, that way all moral responsibility is shifted to someone else, so they can remain guilt free in their bubble of denial.
"I am waiting for something, I don't know what, but if I can filter out the glowing evidence of our omnipresent civilization...And then I hear it, a high tennuous glissade of sound that I might almost have mistaken for a siren if I didn't know better, and I realize that this is what I've been waiting for all along: the coyote chorus” Pg 78
This passage was interesting to me because of the relation to me and my love for the outdoors. Delaney didn’t know exactly what he was waiting for while he was hiking, but he had an intuition to listen to the nature surrounding him. He didn’t know how to express his feeling of nervousness until he heard the chorus cry of the coyotes. In the novel, it seems that he cannot quite decide if he fears the coyotes or he feels a sense of protection by them because they instill a sense of calmness within him in the night. The coyote is the animal that Delaney associates with Mexican immigrants and this interaction seems to relate to the growing curiosity of Americans viewing immigrants.
“To his shame, Delaney’s first thought was for the car (was it marred, scratched, dented?), and then for his insurance rates(what was this going to do to his good-driver discount?), and finally, belatedly for the victim.” (Chap 1, p2)
It is entirely remarkable that the first thoughts after striking another human being with a motor-vehicle would be concern for the vehicle itself and insurance discounts that may be lost. Unfortunately in today’s society many of our middle class and well to do citizens have lost their connectedness to the rest of society. Either societies is beneath their class, and only exists to serve Delaney’s peers and are otherwise invisible to the Delaney’s of the world. The Driver knew he hit a human being and the first concern should have been for the health and wellbeing of the victim that was struck by the car. This hits home to me , as I have actually witnessed the same type of accident twice in my lifetime . The drivers in both cases appeared to be more concerned with their vehicle in the first case and in the second case, the driver was only worried about whether they would make it to their lunch reservation in time. This sentence made me ponder the question; “Has the contemporary American caste system finally laid its foundation?” and “Are the undocumented workers from Mexico and points south that foundation on the bottom of this new overt caste system?”
“I’d like to open my arms to everybody in the world, no matter how poor they are or what country they come from; I’d like to leave my back door open and the screen door unlatched, the way it was when I was a kid, but you know as well as I do that those days are past.” (chap.3, pg. 44)
What I found compelling about this particular sentence is that is describes the place we all live in so perfectly. There are people in our world that would rather steal and burglarize other people than go out and work to earn what they want. It is sad because there are really good people who want to help people in need but they know they cannot because they cannot trust people with their family and belongings. We have made a whole 360 degree turn from people being able to trust anybody and sleeping with their doors unlocked to having to watch out for who they trust and sleeping with their doors locked. I am not saying by all means that everybody is bad or is like this because I do believe that there are more good people in our world out weighing the bad ones. Not only do we have to lock our doors at home but we have to lock and protect everything else we have. The world would be so much more peaceful if we did not have to always look over our shoulders and spend time making sure what belongs to us is safe. I chose this sentence because I believe I live in a pretty good neighborhood however it made me question why I never leave my doors unlocked. Even when I am home I do not leave my doors unlocked. After thinking about all the scenarios that could happen for not locking my doors, the bad ones outweighed the good ones in the end. I really wish the good could have outweighed the bad but I know what type of society we live in and I would rather not take the chances with what I know.
T.C. Boyle has impeccable descriptions of the human struggles, and even the ideas are full of life. The highly detailed sentences, although beautiful, did not capture my attention while reading. I kept picking out the most common phrases. Boyle's novel is so rich that these sentences were screaming at me as I read.
"Simple as that (p. 146)."
To some, this may seem like one of the most "dead" sentences anyone can say or tell another person. What is that suppose to mean? How are you suppose to interpret this? This sentence is found when Delaney's car was stolen and he went to buy a car that was exactly the same. The car and cars being stolen is what was being spoken about, but I felt some deeper meaning.
Candido worked hard to earn money for his wife and his wife left him. "Simple as that." Candido took his wife's younger sister to be with him in the United States. "Simple as that." Delaney hits Candido with his car and gave him twenty dollars because he was Mexican. "Simple as that." Kyra had her two dogs dragged out of their backyard by a hungry coyote. "Simple as that." Candido and America have to live like parasites. "Simple as that." Kyra and the community she belongs to are going to keep out the "parasites" with a wall. "Simple as that."
I could go on and on. The sentence is "simple as that," but there is nothing simple about these events whatsoever. Everything that happens to use, even if insignificant compared to others, is complex. I do not believe anything can be so simple. This sentence stands out because you cannot take it literally. What I see, is that it says you cannot control what happens to you.
Delaney can write about not feeding the coyotes, but that does not mean anything will change. Kyra and the community are going to build this wall, but that does not mean that it will keep anything out. Candido wants the best for America and his child, but that does not mean he will get what he wants. America is in the United States to live a better life than the one she had in Mexico, but the "American dream" is not guaranteed. You can try to do everything humanly possible to get what you want, but it does not mean it is simple as that. You have to live with it, deal with it, and expect it. You are not in control, at least not in control of external factors.
“I told you-he was Mexican” (page 15). This short passage caught my attention because it exemplifies how Delany views people that are not of his kind. Delany had just hit a man with his car and the whole time he is trying to rationalize how he is not at fault for his wrong doing. Delany claims that the man he hit must be “insane, demented, suicidal” to step in front of a moving car. Delany is also confident that “no jury would convict him” (page 4). All of these passages tie together because it shows that Delany does not fully believe in the ideal of equality. Delany then calls his wife Kyra to tell her the situation and admits he had hit a man, but not just a man but a Mexican man. Thus, expressing no need to be concerned with trying to find the man and to get him the proper medical treatment, despite the fact he is seriously injured. At the end of the conversation Delany informs his wife not to be worried, because he gave the “Mexican” man twenty-dollars. This saddens me; just because the man was Mexican, giving him twenty-dollars made the problem go away and cease to exist. This shows that in life it is easier NOT to deal with problems than to deal with them.
The line that I choose from The Tortilla Curtain by T. C. Boyle was on pg. 4 “The accident was over, already a moment in history. To his shame, Delaney’s first thought was for the car…, and then for his insurance rates…, and finally, belatedly, for the victim.” I found these sentences really interesting because there are certain people in this world who will first worry about material things than a human life. I know it can happen to anyone and it’s not necessarily because they intend to or because there heartless. We work hard for what we have, so, it’s understandable. I find these sentences sad because the human life is portrayed as not being as import as a car to Delaney. For someone who worries about the environment that he tries to recycle and other things, I thought it was strange how little Delaney thought about a human life.
"He stared stupidly round him-at the fine tracery of the brush, at the birds lighting in the ranches and the treetops below him, at the vultures scrawling their ragged signatures in the sky."
This imagery that Boyle creates here stood out to me because of the obvious literary skills involved. As I am taking this class and as I am trying to improve my writing, imagery is something that I am intentionally trying to challenge myself in because I know that it is a part of most great literature. Sometimes I almost feel like you have to have a very different and unique type of mind in order to think of lines like this.
"Street bums who couldn't keep their hands in their pockets, sweaty campesinos from Guerrero and Chiapas who'd grown up abusing their livestock, indios from Guatemala and Honduras: coochie-coochie and hey baby and then the kissing noises." I found this complelling because its the only reference to Honduras that i have found thus far in the book. My wife is form Honduras and I was a foreign exchange student in Honduras for half a year. I can recall all the kissing noises and other sounds that people make towards the opposite sex. Those sounds are their version of the wolf whistle. This sentence really brought back a few memories for me of when the girls sitting on the bleachers at the basket ball game would make those sounds towards me as i passed by them. Once I learned what they were doing and who it was for I became very embarrassed and always tried to find another route. Lots of memories came back for me just form the one sentence. Wow.
T. C. Boyle has written so many good passages in his book. It was a bit difficult to choose from but, there was a certain passage that kept me thinking about life and appreciating everything. “Life is poor here, an old man- a garbage picker- had told him. Yes, he’d said, and he was saying it now, the words on his lips somewhere between the two worlds, but at least you have garbage.” This part of chapter 2 (pg.18) caught my attention and, made think about how we don’t view garbage as something to appreciate because we do have food. It made me feel terrible because, I tend to throw away food a lot more than what I should be. This phrase made me look at it at life in a different way as this “Life is poor here, but at least you have garbage”. I think many people tend to underestimate life and, don’t ever think they will ever have to eat garbage. I think what if I was living in Mexico this very moment? How would I support myself? I know for a fact I would not be in school or even have a laptop. It’s very scary to have to come to another country illegally and have nothing but scraps of garbage to eat. This book just keeps you thinking about how heartbreaking it is to be alone and trying to survive to make a better life.
"The man was Mexican, Hispanic, that's what he was, and he was speaking Spanish, a hot, crazed drumroll of a language to which Delaney's four years of high school French gave him little access."
This passage is from the beginning of the book, and I felt myself drawn to it because of what it reveals about Delaney's most deeply embedded worldview regarding Mexican people and their culture. Boyle employs free indirect discourse here to great effect, highlighting the inner workings of his character's mind without resorting to cliche. Delaney using the term "Hispanic" to describe a Mexican man, which is functionally akin to describing a Scotsman in a kilt as Indo-European. By describing Spanish as a crazed drumroll he demonstrates that Delaney is thinking in stereotypes and cliches, albeit without malice.
The sentence that stood out to me might be considered a strange choice. It is not necessarily eloquent or impressive, but it definitely drew me in. "He said something then in a foreign language, a gargle and rattle in the throat, and Delaney didn't know what to do." When I met my husband (who is middle eastern) I didn't know what transformations were in store for me. I had never really been around many Arabs before and only knew what I had heard or seen on television. When I first heard him speaking in Arabic with his parents, it sounded exactly how Delaney described the way Candido spoke - much like a gargle and rattle in the throat. In fact, my husband jokingly commented that Arabic sounds like you're clearing your throat. But, over the years I've grown to love this beautiful and colorful language. Many sayings cannot even be adequately translated into English because they lose much of their descriptive beauty. Things often get lost in translation. Arabic is much more than just the gargle and rattle that I initially heard. It is a language of love, beauty, tenderness, care and compassion.
T. C. Boyle has had many intriguing passages throughout his book. I have been enjoying his writing style because of the descriptiveness details he puts in his syntax. I feel like that I am right there as I am reading the book. One sentence that has caught my attention is in the second chapter, "It took him a long moment, and when he spoke it was as if the air had been knocked out of him."Yeah," he said, sinking back down into the blanket,"Maybe."(29) This is a passage that gives description to the aftermath of a conversation between America and Candido where they speak about the expectations that she has about life on the north and he actually knows the reality of what will happen once they get to where they want to go. America's view is a bit naive but those ideas of what life will be like that keep her going. Candido, however knows the cruel reality that awaits them.
"And then the man grinned, or tried to. A film of blood clung to the jagged teeth and he licked it away with a flick of his tongue. "Monee?", he whispered and he rubbed the fingers of his free hand together."
I chose this sentence because after reading this sentence I knew the victim wanted to get it. After reading the review of the book and learning that the book is about the struggle to achieve the American dream. I thought to myself getting hit and getting paid to sweep under the rug is one way to get money when your options are limited. Just as the author writes about how the result of the accident will have a domino effect on the drivers life and costs of things, so does the man who got it. The driver views it as a way to not increase insurance, no police report, no problems. Just a little cash for the guy and all is ok.
In the book, the first sentence that I found interesting or that drew my attention was the statement "I told you--he was Mexican"
I find this sentence to be very interesting because it is said so casual. It is as if the incident is suddenly forgive-able or forgettable based on the persons race. At the same time it is as if the race of the person makes them a person. Very strange to me, because it is so early in the book, it is hard to imagine what lies ahead.
I'm not very far into the book yet, and I know that someone already used this quote, but as I looked for another one to use, this is the one that kept coming back to me. I've decided to use it anyway!
"I told you- he was Mexican."(page 15)
This part really made me stop when I was reading. I read it again, and all I could think was, "seriously?" How could your write off what you did to someone simply because of their race? It just really goes to show you that we as human beings can be so unaccepting of and prejudice against those who are not exactly like we are. We are so egotistical and self-centered that we put ourselves up on a pedestal that others cannot even come close to. Isn't this what Delany does? He thinks of himself as superior to this Mexican man and is therefore able to wrtie him off, and write off what he was done, by simply giving him twenty dollars and expecting that to make it alright. How different would it have been if the incident would have been involving a white man? This part of the book saddened and disgusted me by showing me how cruel humans can be to one another.
"A man could be pouring concrete one day, spraying pesticide the next -- or swabbing out urinals, spreading manure, painting, weeding, hauling, laying brick or setting tile. You didn't ask questions. You got in the back of the truck and you went where they took you."
As i read these sentences I had flash backs of the movie "Under the same moon" and other movies that deal with those that are undocumented. These sentences are very powerful for they describe many lives of many undocumented people who take any job given in order to take money and provide food and shelter for their families. I have witnessed this before and have personally watched undocumented men get picked up by to do any job given without asking questions. This shows how much these people are willing to do to move forward and live a good life in the United States. I have a good feeling about this book and I cant wait to finish it. It sounds very interesting and it inspiring to read about your own race and of those who come from similar struggles.
"The fire sat low on the horizon, like a gas burner glowing under the great black pot of the sky." SORRY, I HAVE NOT BEEN ABLE TO GET THE BOOK YET. THOUGH READING THROUGH THIS WEEKS READINGS I HAVE REALLY FALLEN IN LOVE WITH THIS PHRASE FROM THE BOOK. I DO AGREE, THIS IS A FINE PEICE OF WRITTING.
WHEN I READ THIS QUOTE FROM THE BOOK IT CAPTURED EVERY PART OF MY ATTENTION. I STARTED TO IMAGINE AND TRY TO SEE WHAT THE AUTHOR WAS SEEING. AS SOON AS I FEARED I WAS NOT GOING TO SEE IT, THE AUTHOR GAVE AN EVERYDAY IMAGE AS AN ANALOGY. ITS LIKE IF IN THAT MOMENT I WAS ONE WITH THE AUTHOR. LIKE IF I COMPLETELY UNDERSTOOD WHAT HE WAS TRYING TO SHOW ME. MOST DAYS IN OUR LIVES WE HAVE TO ASK QUESTIONS AND FIGURE OUT EVERYTHING ON OUR OWN. BUT HER THE AUTHOR DIDNT LEAVE US. THERE WAS NO QUESTION ASKED. INSTEAD THIS RELIEF THAT THE ANSWER WAS THERE MADE ME FEEL AS IF THE AUTHOR CARED ABOUT THE READER. LIFES TOO FULL WITH TROUBLES, WHY GIVE THEM ANOTHER ONE.
Deciding which one sentence to write about for this response was difficult. I was enamored with the book from start to finish; Boyle’s use of words and the imagery they create, the pain and love he conveys through them, and the pure finesse he has with the written word is nothing short of superb. Needless to say, my copy of The Tortilla Curtain is now quite dog-eared and abused. Little notes here and there, highlighted passages, etc. But the one line that really touched me with its perfection and beauty follows:
ReplyDelete(From Part 3 “Socorro:- Chapter 2): “But then one day, lying there by the desolate stream like some dead thing, America heard a bird calling, three high-pitched notes and then a quavering sustained low-throated whistle that broke her heart with the sadness of it, over and over, that sad beautiful bird calling for her mate, her love, her husband, and America felt the sun touch her face like the hand of God, and the peephole snapped open like the shutter of a camera.”
We’ve seen America suffer, struggle, share her woes, hopes, and fears. She’s endured things throughout her and Candido’s journey that shatter your heart and make you question humanity. However, despite her unending misery, she has a moment of bliss, pure joy and beauty. It’s not the home she dreams of with gleaming floors, or a bag of money that will surely end all of their trouble. It’s simply the song of a bird in the filthy canyon she calls home. She looks past all of the pain and disappointment, and chooses to see the beauty in what is. America allows herself to be touched by the beauty here, and when I read this line, I could so easily feel it with her.
"Immediately, before he could even catch his breath, he was brushed back by the tailwind of a string of cars racing bumper-to-bumper up the canyon like some snaking malignant train" (4)
ReplyDeleteTo be honest, I don’t even know why this particular sentence caught my attention as much as it did. I believe that the imagery was part of the reason and to be frank, it was an impeccable scenery. The way the author described how the cars where rushing by and the how the wind knocked him backwards made me feel as if I was the one in Delaney's shoes. When reading this sentence I suddenly imagined cars passing by on a busy street, like on Rosedale, on a Monday evening (specifically 5 pm) when everyone is in a rush to go home from work; where all you can see is the brake lights.
This passage also shows how the World does not stop just because something happens to us. Delaney was shocked by the fact that he had his real accident and with it involving a pedestrian and he was also taken by surprise because people did not stop to see what happened when he hit the guy with his car. It just seemed like it was invisible. As if he was imagining that he even had an accident. But it was very real. That's just how our society is. People rarely stop to sympathize with us because they have a life of their own, they have their own problems and their own accident to worry about. All we can do it concentrate on us because that's the only help that we can get
I actually locked myself out of my car once, and the only person to help me was a homeless man with a big heart. I actually make it a point in my life to help people when I can; That moment just opened my eyes to how selfish people can be ---it was quite disturbing.
DeleteI enjoyed your passage very much!
"I gave him twenty bucks."
ReplyDelete"Twenty---?"
...
"I told you-he was Mexican."
(15)
I know it's not a sentence but I found this passage or rather dialogue extremely interesting because, it describes how Delaney views Mexicans. By saying "I gave him twenty bucks," and "I told you he was Mexican" shows (me) the reader how Delaney views himself, and how he views Mexicans.
Delaney is ethnocentric indeed!
"Delaney felt his guilt turn to anger, to rage" (22).
ReplyDeleteIt always floors me how people blame others for their wrong doing. Delaney just almost killed this Mexican man, and was feeling bad about almost taking his life. Once he realized that the man was going to live, he retracted his guilt and became anger with his victim. Since this man did not want to go to the doctor, Delaney gives him just twenty dollars for almost killing. He basically meant that $20.00 dollars was all that man's life was worth to him. People always try to blame someone else for their wrong doings, especially if they act in a way that goes against their morals. It is much easier for an offender to blame their victim, that way all moral responsibility is shifted to someone else, so they can remain guilt free in their bubble of denial.
"I am waiting for something, I don't know what, but if I can filter out the glowing evidence of our omnipresent civilization...And then I hear it, a high tennuous glissade of sound that I might almost have mistaken for a siren if I didn't know better, and I realize that this is what I've been waiting for all along: the coyote chorus” Pg 78
ReplyDeleteThis passage was interesting to me because of the relation to me and my love for the outdoors. Delaney didn’t know exactly what he was waiting for while he was hiking, but he had an intuition to listen to the nature surrounding him. He didn’t know how to express his feeling of nervousness until he heard the chorus cry of the coyotes. In the novel, it seems that he cannot quite decide if he fears the coyotes or he feels a sense of protection by them because they instill a sense of calmness within him in the night. The coyote is the animal that Delaney associates with Mexican immigrants and this interaction seems to relate to the growing curiosity of Americans viewing immigrants.
“To his shame, Delaney’s first thought was for the car (was it marred, scratched, dented?), and then for his insurance rates(what was this going to do to his good-driver discount?), and finally, belatedly for the victim.” (Chap 1, p2)
ReplyDeleteIt is entirely remarkable that the first thoughts after striking another human being with a motor-vehicle would be concern for the vehicle itself and insurance discounts that may be lost. Unfortunately in today’s society many of our middle class and well to do citizens have lost their connectedness to the rest of society. Either societies is beneath their class, and only exists to serve Delaney’s peers and are otherwise invisible to the Delaney’s of the world. The Driver knew he hit a human being and the first concern should have been for the health and wellbeing of the victim that was struck by the car. This hits home to me , as I have actually witnessed the same type of accident twice in my lifetime . The drivers in both cases appeared to be more concerned with their vehicle in the first case and in the second case, the driver was only worried about whether they would make it to their lunch reservation in time. This sentence made me ponder the question; “Has the contemporary American caste system finally laid its foundation?” and “Are the undocumented workers from Mexico and points south that foundation on the bottom of this new overt caste system?”
“I’d like to open my arms to everybody in the world, no matter how poor they are or what country they come from; I’d like to leave my back door open and the screen door unlatched, the way it was when I was a kid, but you know as well as I do that those days are past.” (chap.3, pg. 44)
ReplyDeleteWhat I found compelling about this particular sentence is that is describes the place we all live in so perfectly. There are people in our world that would rather steal and burglarize other people than go out and work to earn what they want. It is sad because there are really good people who want to help people in need but they know they cannot because they cannot trust people with their family and belongings. We have made a whole 360 degree turn from people being able to trust anybody and sleeping with their doors unlocked to having to watch out for who they trust and sleeping with their doors locked. I am not saying by all means that everybody is bad or is like this because I do believe that there are more good people in our world out weighing the bad ones. Not only do we have to lock our doors at home but we have to lock and protect everything else we have. The world would be so much more peaceful if we did not have to always look over our shoulders and spend time making sure what belongs to us is safe. I chose this sentence because I believe I live in a pretty good neighborhood however it made me question why I never leave my doors unlocked. Even when I am home I do not leave my doors unlocked. After thinking about all the scenarios that could happen for not locking my doors, the bad ones outweighed the good ones in the end. I really wish the good could have outweighed the bad but I know what type of society we live in and I would rather not take the chances with what I know.
T.C. Boyle has impeccable descriptions of the human struggles, and even the ideas are full of life. The highly detailed sentences, although beautiful, did not capture my attention while reading. I kept picking out the most common phrases. Boyle's novel is so rich that these sentences were screaming at me as I read.
ReplyDelete"Simple as that (p. 146)."
To some, this may seem like one of the most "dead" sentences anyone can say or tell another person. What is that suppose to mean? How are you suppose to interpret this? This sentence is found when Delaney's car was stolen and he went to buy a car that was exactly the same. The car and cars being stolen is what was being spoken about, but I felt some deeper meaning.
Candido worked hard to earn money for his wife and his wife left him. "Simple as that."
Candido took his wife's younger sister to be with him in the United States. "Simple as that."
Delaney hits Candido with his car and gave him twenty dollars because he was Mexican. "Simple as that."
Kyra had her two dogs dragged out of their backyard by a hungry coyote. "Simple as that."
Candido and America have to live like parasites. "Simple as that."
Kyra and the community she belongs to are going to keep out the "parasites" with a wall. "Simple as that."
I could go on and on. The sentence is "simple as that," but there is nothing simple about these events whatsoever. Everything that happens to use, even if insignificant compared to others, is complex. I do not believe anything can be so simple. This sentence stands out because you cannot take it literally. What I see, is that it says you cannot control what happens to you.
Delaney can write about not feeding the coyotes, but that does not mean anything will change. Kyra and the community are going to build this wall, but that does not mean that it will keep anything out. Candido wants the best for America and his child, but that does not mean he will get what he wants. America is in the United States to live a better life than the one she had in Mexico, but the "American dream" is not guaranteed. You can try to do everything humanly possible to get what you want, but it does not mean it is simple as that. You have to live with it, deal with it, and expect it. You are not in control, at least not in control of external factors.
“I told you-he was Mexican” (page 15).
ReplyDeleteThis short passage caught my attention because it exemplifies how Delany views people that are not of his kind. Delany had just hit a man with his car and the whole time he is trying to rationalize how he is not at fault for his wrong doing. Delany claims that the man he hit must be “insane, demented, suicidal” to step in front of a moving car. Delany is also confident that “no jury would convict him” (page 4). All of these passages tie together because it shows that Delany does not fully believe in the ideal of equality. Delany then calls his wife Kyra to tell her the situation and admits he had hit a man, but not just a man but a Mexican man. Thus, expressing no need to be concerned with trying to find the man and to get him the proper medical treatment, despite the fact he is seriously injured. At the end of the conversation Delany informs his wife not to be worried, because he gave the “Mexican” man twenty-dollars. This saddens me; just because the man was Mexican, giving him twenty-dollars made the problem go away and cease to exist. This shows that in life it is easier NOT to deal with problems than to deal with them.
The line that I choose from The Tortilla Curtain by T. C. Boyle was on pg. 4 “The accident was over, already a moment in history. To his shame, Delaney’s first thought was for the car…, and then for his insurance rates…, and finally, belatedly, for the victim.”
ReplyDeleteI found these sentences really interesting because there are certain people in this world who will first worry about material things than a human life. I know it can happen to anyone and it’s not necessarily because they intend to or because there heartless. We work hard for what we have, so, it’s understandable. I find these sentences sad because the human life is portrayed as not being as import as a car to Delaney. For someone who worries about the environment that he tries to recycle and other things, I thought it was strange how little Delaney thought about a human life.
"He stared stupidly round him-at the fine tracery of the brush, at the birds lighting in the ranches and the treetops below him, at the vultures scrawling their ragged signatures in the sky."
ReplyDeleteThis imagery that Boyle creates here stood out to me because of the obvious literary skills involved. As I am taking this class and as I am trying to improve my writing, imagery is something that I am intentionally trying to challenge myself in because I know that it is a part of most great literature. Sometimes I almost feel like you have to have a very different and unique type of mind in order to think of lines like this.
"Street bums who couldn't keep their hands in their pockets, sweaty campesinos from Guerrero and Chiapas who'd grown up abusing their livestock, indios from Guatemala and Honduras: coochie-coochie and hey baby and then the kissing noises."
ReplyDeleteI found this complelling because its the only reference to Honduras that i have found thus far in the book. My wife is form Honduras and I was a foreign exchange student in Honduras for half a year. I can recall all the kissing noises and other sounds that people make towards the opposite sex. Those sounds are their version of the wolf whistle. This sentence really brought back a few memories for me of when the girls sitting on the bleachers at the basket ball game would make those sounds towards me as i passed by them. Once I learned what they were doing and who it was for I became very embarrassed and always tried to find another route. Lots of memories came back for me just form the one sentence. Wow.
T. C. Boyle has written so many good passages in his book. It was a bit difficult to choose from but, there was a certain passage that kept me thinking about life and appreciating everything.
ReplyDelete“Life is poor here, an old man- a garbage picker- had told him. Yes, he’d said, and he was saying it now, the words on his lips somewhere between the two worlds, but at least you have garbage.”
This part of chapter 2 (pg.18) caught my attention and, made think about how we don’t view garbage as something to appreciate because we do have food. It made me feel terrible because, I tend to throw away food a lot more than what I should be. This phrase made me look at it at life in a different way as this “Life is poor here, but at least you have garbage”. I think many people tend to underestimate life and, don’t ever think they will ever have to eat garbage. I think what if I was living in Mexico this very moment? How would I support myself? I know for a fact I would not be in school or even have a laptop. It’s very scary to have to come to another country illegally and have nothing but scraps of garbage to eat. This book just keeps you thinking about how heartbreaking it is to be alone and trying to survive to make a better life.
"The man was Mexican, Hispanic, that's what he was, and he was speaking Spanish, a hot, crazed drumroll of a language to which Delaney's four years of high school French gave him little access."
ReplyDeleteThis passage is from the beginning of the book, and I felt myself drawn to it because of what it reveals about Delaney's most deeply embedded worldview regarding Mexican people and their culture. Boyle employs free indirect discourse here to great effect, highlighting the inner workings of his character's mind without resorting to cliche. Delaney using the term "Hispanic" to describe a Mexican man, which is functionally akin to describing a Scotsman in a kilt as Indo-European. By describing Spanish as a crazed drumroll he demonstrates that Delaney is thinking in stereotypes and cliches, albeit without malice.
The sentence that stood out to me might be considered a strange choice. It is not necessarily eloquent or impressive, but it definitely drew me in. "He said something then in a foreign language, a gargle and rattle in the throat, and Delaney didn't know what to do." When I met my husband (who is middle eastern) I didn't know what transformations were in store for me. I had never really been around many Arabs before and only knew what I had heard or seen on television. When I first heard him speaking in Arabic with his parents, it sounded exactly how Delaney described the way Candido spoke - much like a gargle and rattle in the throat. In fact, my husband jokingly commented that Arabic sounds like you're clearing your throat. But, over the years I've grown to love this beautiful and colorful language. Many sayings cannot even be adequately translated into English because they lose much of their descriptive beauty. Things often get lost in translation. Arabic is much more than just the gargle and rattle that I initially heard. It is a language of love, beauty, tenderness, care and compassion.
ReplyDeleteT. C. Boyle has had many intriguing passages throughout his book. I have been enjoying his writing style because of the descriptiveness details he puts in his syntax. I feel like that I am right there as I am reading the book.
ReplyDeleteOne sentence that has caught my attention is in the second chapter, "It took him a long moment, and when he spoke it was as if the air had been knocked out of him."Yeah," he said, sinking back down into the blanket,"Maybe."(29) This is a passage that gives description to the aftermath of a conversation between America and Candido where they speak about the expectations that she has about life on the north and he actually knows the reality of what will happen once they get to where they want to go. America's view is a bit naive but those ideas of what life will be like that keep her going. Candido, however knows the cruel reality that awaits them.
"And then the man grinned, or tried to. A film of blood clung to the jagged teeth and he licked it away with a flick of his tongue. "Monee?", he whispered and he rubbed the fingers of his free hand together."
ReplyDeleteI chose this sentence because after reading this sentence I knew the victim wanted to get it. After reading the review of the book and learning that the book is about the struggle to achieve the American dream. I thought to myself getting hit and getting paid to sweep under the rug is one way to get money when your options are limited. Just as the author writes about how the result of the accident will have a domino effect on the drivers life and costs of things, so does the man who got it. The driver views it as a way to not increase insurance, no police report, no problems. Just a little cash for the guy and all is ok.
In the book, the first sentence that I found interesting or that drew my attention was the statement "I told you--he was Mexican"
ReplyDeleteI find this sentence to be very interesting because it is said so casual. It is as if the incident is suddenly forgive-able or forgettable based on the persons race. At the same time it is as if the race of the person makes them a person. Very strange to me, because it is so early in the book, it is hard to imagine what lies ahead.
I'm not very far into the book yet, and I know that someone already used this quote, but as I looked for another one to use, this is the one that kept coming back to me. I've decided to use it anyway!
ReplyDelete"I told you- he was Mexican."(page 15)
This part really made me stop when I was reading. I read it again, and all I could think was, "seriously?" How could your write off what you did to someone simply because of their race? It just really goes to show you that we as human beings can be so unaccepting of and prejudice against those who are not exactly like we are. We are so egotistical and self-centered that we put ourselves up on a pedestal that others cannot even come close to. Isn't this what Delany does? He thinks of himself as superior to this Mexican man and is therefore able to wrtie him off, and write off what he was done, by simply giving him twenty dollars and expecting that to make it alright. How different would it have been if the incident would have been involving a white man? This part of the book saddened and disgusted me by showing me how cruel humans can be to one another.
"A man could be pouring concrete one day, spraying pesticide the next -- or swabbing out urinals, spreading manure, painting, weeding, hauling, laying brick or setting tile. You didn't ask questions. You got in the back of the truck and you went where they took you."
ReplyDeleteAs i read these sentences I had flash backs of the movie "Under the same moon" and other movies that deal with those that are undocumented. These sentences are very powerful for they describe many lives of many undocumented people who take any job given in order to take money and provide food and shelter for their families. I have witnessed this before and have personally watched undocumented men get picked up by to do any job given without asking questions. This shows how much these people are willing to do to move forward and live a good life in the United States. I have a good feeling about this book and I cant wait to finish it. It sounds very interesting and it inspiring to read about your own race and of those who come from similar struggles.
"The fire sat low on the horizon, like a gas burner glowing under the great black pot of the sky."
ReplyDeleteSORRY, I HAVE NOT BEEN ABLE TO GET THE BOOK YET. THOUGH READING THROUGH THIS WEEKS READINGS I HAVE REALLY FALLEN IN LOVE WITH THIS PHRASE FROM THE BOOK. I DO AGREE, THIS IS A FINE PEICE OF WRITTING.
WHEN I READ THIS QUOTE FROM THE BOOK IT CAPTURED EVERY PART OF MY ATTENTION. I STARTED TO IMAGINE AND TRY TO SEE WHAT THE AUTHOR WAS SEEING. AS SOON AS I FEARED I WAS NOT GOING TO SEE IT, THE AUTHOR GAVE AN EVERYDAY IMAGE AS AN ANALOGY. ITS LIKE IF IN THAT MOMENT I WAS ONE WITH THE AUTHOR. LIKE IF I COMPLETELY UNDERSTOOD WHAT HE WAS TRYING TO SHOW ME. MOST DAYS IN OUR LIVES WE HAVE TO ASK QUESTIONS AND FIGURE OUT EVERYTHING ON OUR OWN. BUT HER THE AUTHOR DIDNT LEAVE US. THERE WAS NO QUESTION ASKED. INSTEAD THIS RELIEF THAT THE ANSWER WAS THERE MADE ME FEEL AS IF THE AUTHOR CARED ABOUT THE READER. LIFES TOO FULL WITH TROUBLES, WHY GIVE THEM ANOTHER ONE.