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Literary Allusions in “The Tortilla Curtain” 1
In The Tortilla Curtain, Boyle alludes
to several authors and/or works of
literature. Boyle uses these allusions
to highlight his novel's irony and
satire as well as to promote the novel as a work of social criticism.
These allusions include:
- Pilgrim at
Tinker Creek, by
Annie Dillard: Delaney Mossbacher's
column,“ Pilgrim at Topanga
Creek” is
Boyle's not-so-subtle parody of Annie
Dillard's Pilgrim
at Tinker Creek, and many
of the themes discussed in Mossbacher's
columns relate directly to Dillard's
themes in Pilgrim.
- The Grapes
of Wrath by
John Steinbeck: Boyle's novel begins
with the following epigraph from
The Grapes
of Wrath: “They
ain't human. A human being wouldn't
live like they do. A human being
couldn't stand it to be so dirty
and miserable”. Like Candido
and America, Steinbeck's Joad family
endures unthinkable hardship moving
West during the dust-bowl years
and ends up defeated but still
resolute.
- Candide by Voltaire:
The clearest satirical allusion can
be found in Candido Rincon's name,
which is an invocation of the famously
naive character, Candide, created
by french satirist, Voltaire, in
1759. In Candide, the
character of Candide is plagued by
disaster, challenging the notion
that “all is for the best in
the best of all possible worlds.” Candido
and America are beset by similar
calamities, challenging the notion
that everything happens for the best.
- Bonfire of
the Vanities by
Tom Wolfe: Many critics have noticed
similarities between Boyle's novel
and Tom Wolfe's Bonfire
of the Vanities (1987).
Both novels begin with an unfortunate
accident involving people of different
racial, cultural and class backgrounds.
- Coyotes:
a Journey Through the Secret World
of America's Illegal Aliens by
Ted Conover: Boyle was reading
Conover's work when he wrote The
Tortilla Curtain.
Its influence is clear in the passages
about the coyote's violent intrusion
into Arroyo Blanco.
1 Good Books Lately. ReadSmartGuide:
The Tortilla Curtain. Denver: Good
Books Lately, Inc. 2000.
