The Tortilla Curtain

When Delaney Mossbacher knocks down a Mexican pedestrian, he neither reports the accident nor takes his victim to hospital. Instead the man accepts $20 and limps back to poverty and his pregnant 17-year-old wife, leaving Delaney to return to his privileged life in California. But these two men are fated against each other, as Delaney attempts to clear the land of the illegal immigrants who he thinks are turning his state park into a ghetto, and a boiling pot of racism and prejudice threatens to spill over.

Der illegal eingewanderte Mexikaner Cándido wird von einem jungen Kalifornier angefahren und verletzt. Dieser Unfall wird für beide zum Beginn wahrhaft schrecklicher Ereignisse. - Ungekürzte Ausgabe des sozialkritischen Romans von T.C. Boyle (deutsch "América") von 1995, aufbereitet als Englisch-Lektüre mit Zeilennummerierung, Vokabelhilfen und Kurzbiografie zum Autor für Sprachniveau C1.

"Forging the Tortilla Curtain reveals how the region got to be that way."--BOOK JACKET.

Los Angeles is famous for its sunny weather, for the Hollywood film studios and for being the residence of the rich and beautiful. And although - or, precisely because - all this is more illusion than reality, the city frequently serves as setting for various pieces of fiction. However, Los Angeles does not only play a huge role in the media, but since lately also in the realm of urban studies. Having long been a kind of ‘outsider’ in the field, it is now regarded as a prototypical example for urban development by the L.A. School. In this context, its image is less sunny and positive, but reveals a deep-rooted racism against Latin-American immigrants in combination with a fortress mentality on the part of its white population as well as a unique urban ecology, in which natural catastrophes seem to be regular occurrences. This paper intends to outline the significance of Los Angeles in urban studies and trace the thereby acquired findings in a fictional representation of the city: T.C. Boyle’s novel The Tortilla Curtain. In the process, it is shown how urban conditions, racism and nature, especially in the form of ecological disasters, intersect and influence each other.

Lesson Plan from the year 2009 in the subject English - Pedagogy, Didactics, Literature Studies, grade: 2,3, University of Paderborn, language: English, abstract: Contextualization “[...] Boyle has dealt with two aspects of the American Dream: the views foreigners have of America as 'the land of plenty' and the idea of the self-made man who rises from poverty to affluence.” (Bruck: 50) Description of one lessons Lesson one (week one): The students have read the novel over the summer. The teacher has mentioned this task at the beginning of the semester again to make sure that there would be enough time to prepare to novel, just in case. At the beginning of the first lesson of this block the class sits together in a round collecting everybody's first impressions on the novel The Tortilla Curtain. The teacher is a quiet observer and serves from time to time as a host. In order to keep the students talking there will be no disruption from the teacher. At the end of the lesson teacher and students part without any homework.

A Study Guide for T. C. Boyle's "Tortilla Curtain," excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Novels for Students.This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Novels for Students for all of your research needs.

Master's Thesis from the year 2013 in the subject American Studies - Culture and Applied Geography, grade: 1,1, University of Duisburg-Essen (Department of Anglophone Studies), course: American Studies, language: English, abstract: Los Angeles, the Californian megalopolis, is famous for its sunny weather, for the Hollywood film studios and for being the residence of the rich and beautiful. And although - or, precisely because - all this is more illusion than reality, the city frequently serves as setting for various pieces of fiction. However, Los Angeles does not only play a huge role in the media, but since lately also in the realm of urban studies. Having long been a kind of 'outsider' in the field, it is now regarded as a prototypical example for urban development by the L.A. School. In this context, its image is less sunny and positive, but reveals a deep-rooted racism against Latin-American immigrants in combination with a fortress mentality on the part of its white population as well as a unique urban ecology, in which natural catastrophes seem to be regular occurrences. This paper now intends to outline the significance of Los Angeles in urban studies and trace the thereby acquired findings in a fictional representation of the city: T.C. Boyle's novel "The Tortilla Curtain." In the process, it is shown how urban conditions, racism and nature, especially in the form of ecological disasters, intersect and influence each other. All in all, this work brings together urban studies and fiction. Thereby, it examines how "The Tortilla Curtain," as a fictitious representation of Los Angeles, partly reflects the reality of the metropolis as well as urban theory. In this sense, it is concluded that fiction can be an important account of urban problems and their possible solutions and that "The Tortilla Curtain" has therefore a social and a political message.

"Understanding T.C. Boyle is the first book-length study of one of contemporary America's most prolific, popular, and critically acclaimed fiction writers."--Inside jacket.