Vargas

Sonni Vargas
English 91
Filbeck
3 December 2014
The Struggles of a Mexican Immigrant
As of 2013, approximately 11.6 million Mexican immigrants resided in the United States
(El Paso Times). Mexican immigrants come from Mexico to America in order to make a better
life for themselves and their families. The Tortilla Curtain by T.C. Boyle, is a novel about the life
of lower class immigrants named Candido and America who have come to America to live the
American dream. Throughout the novel, Boyle talks about the many hardships they go through
such as the difficult journey of crossing the border, poverty, and racism. Candido and America
are the main characters of the novel that symbolize the immigration experience. Candido is a
Spanish word for candid, which according to the American dictionary means sincere and
outspoken. Americas name is a representation of freedom, which is the country they are
traveling to so they can be free and have equal opportunities. They represent real life immigrants
who sincerely want freedom and the opportunity to live a better life. The audience follows them
on their journey to America and how their life changes when they get there. The journey to cross
the border from Mexico to America, however, is not easy. In fact, it is very challenging both
physically and mentally. In The Tortilla Curtain, T.C. Boyle uses the immigrant experience of
Candido and his wife America in order to reveal the struggles most Mexican immigrants go
through when they come to America.
Most Immigrants suffer from poverty. They only come into America with the clothes on
their back and do not have a place to live. In the beginning of the book the audience is introduced
to Candido and Americas lifestyle. They do not have a stable place to live and the places they

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often stay at are unsanitary and not fit for Candido and his wife who also happens to be pregnant.
For example Boyle describes one of the places they lived in: Hotbedding in a two-room
apartment in Echo Park with thirty-two other men, sleeping in shifts and linking up on the street
corner for work, the reek of the place, the roaches, and the nits (26). Boyle descriptively shows
how hard Candido and Americas lives are. They cannot afford to live in a house so they have to
jump around from place to place in order to get a good nights rest and often have to share with
other people who suffer from poverty as well. Candido and America are trying to make the best
out of their move to America. Every day they suffer from poverty and hardly find any luck in
getting jobs. This is a very realistic example of how many immigrants still live today, struggling
with not having much and constantly working hard day after day to make ends meet.
Aside from poverty, one of the biggest struggles of a Mexican immigrant is physically
crossing the border into America. The border is a physical barrier, which is used to keep
immigrants from coming into America illegally. Many find ways to go past it such as paying
people who are called coyotes in order to sneak them across the border. Boyle describes how
nerve wrecking crossing the border was for Candido and America: Crouching there beside the
corrugated iron fence, her mouth dry and heart racing, she waited through the long night till the
coyote gave the word, and then she and Candido and half a dozen others were running for their
lives on the hard-baked earth of another country (59). As this quote indicates, the immigrant
experience is very dangerous. Children, especially, can be subjected to robbery, violence, sexual
assault, sex trafficking or forced labor (Migration Policy Institute). In The Tortilla Curtain
America and Candido deal with violence, getting robbed, and rape along the way. Overall,
crossing the border is not an easy task, it is hard work and takes its toll on a person both
physically and mentally.

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After crossing the border most immigrants deal with being discriminated against because
of their race and social class. Throughout The Tortilla Curtain, Candido and America deal with
the people of Arroyo Blanco who treat them as if they do not matter in the world. Many
stereotype them and do not want them coming into America. Mexican immigrants are being
threatened all the time; in the novel Boyle illustrates this when Candido comes across graffiti that
sates, BEANERS DIE(62). A lot of racism is shown throughout the book and it is an accurate
representation of how immigrants are actually treated. People come to America in order to be
treated equally but they are not getting that. As the novel indicates, it is very hard for immigrants
to be accepted in todays society.
Immigrants also go through the struggle of not knowing English when coming to
America, which makes it harder for them to communicate. Mexican immigrants are coming from
a different country, so naturally many do not know how to speak or understand English. Not
knowing English puts them at a linguistic disadvantage because they need to know how to speak
it in order to communicate with others. While many people in America know Spanish, it is
beneficial for Mexican immigrants to learn English. Without knowing English it is harder for
them to get a job and many do not see them as well educated. For instance, one of the women
who is competing with America for a job states, She doesnt speak any English what do you
want with her?(84). America does not speak English when looking for a job, therefore nobody
wanted to hire her because they felt she wasnt qualified enough. Not only does that not get her a
job but even if she got a job the company would pay her less than any other worker simply
because she does not know English. Not being able to communicate is a big struggle that many
Mexican immigrants go through.

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In The Tortilla Curtain, T.C. Boyle gives his audience an inside look on what a life as a
Mexican immigrant is like. They go though the struggles of crossing the border, suffering from
poverty, racism, and a lack of communication. Despite these struggles and dangers of the
immigration experience, immigrants still stop at nothing to make a better life for themselves.
They want the American dream and will do all they can to come to America and succeed in life.
Boyle shares the story of Candido and Americas life because he feels that it is important for
people to be educated on what is going on in the real world. Although this novel was written in
1995, Mexican immigrants still go through the same struggles and hardships today that Candido
and America went through. Immigration is a big topic that people still talk about today.

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Works Cited
Boyle, T. C. The Tortilla Curtain. New York: Viking, 1995. Print.
Valdez, Diana W. "US Officials Warn Central American Immigrants of Dangers." El Paso
Times.com. N.p., 3 July 2014. Web. 02 Dec. 2014.
<http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_26080300/immigrants-warned-dangers>.
Zong, Jie, and Jeanne Batalova. "Mexican Immigrants in the United States."
Migrationpolicy.org. N.p., 9 Oct. 2014. Web. 30 Nov. 2014.
<http://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/mexican-immigrants-united-states>.