Nature's Creatures in Tortilla Curtain by T.C. Boyle

Nature’s Creatures

The environment and its creatures hold a deep connection that most humans do not have or understand. In Tortilla Curtain by T.C. Boyle, the main characters have a rare interaction with one of natures most “cunning, versatile, hungry and unstoppable” creatures: the coyote (Boyle 215). Some of his characters hold a deeper level of connection with the coyote that can almost be seen as paralleled and from this connection, T.C. Boyle’s idea of how a Mexican immigrant and a coyote can be related is expressed when the notion of the willingness to do anything to survive, being clever and relentless, and though fearful are fascinating is explored.

The idea that coyotes are willing do anything to survive, even trespassing private property, connects prominently with Mexican immigrants having to take extreme measures to survive and have a better life. For instance, when Delaney and Kyra Mossbacher’s morning is “torn apart by a breathless shriek that rose up…something final and irrevocable…a coyote had somehow managed to get into the enclosure and seize one of the dogs…there it was, wild nature…” (Boyle 36-37). The willingness of the coyote to scale up into someone else’s territory and snatch what is theirs shows its instinct to do whatever possible to survive. The strong instinct is what makes coyotes clever and dangerous to domesticated animals and even humans who are not accustomed to living in the wild, hunting to survive, being the predator. Similar to the coyote’s strong instinct to be willing to do anything to survive, Cándido Rincon is forced to trespass private property and even though he thinks, “[I] was no looter, no thief,” he knows “this was a question of survival, of necessity––he had a wife and a daughter a...

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... races they see as criminals, but they will willing use them to do low wage jobs and also are fascinated enough to sexually harass without thinking twice.

The idea of coyotes’ behavior and Mexican immigrants are intertwined so intensely when the notions of how they are both willing to do anything to survive, they are cunning and unrelenting, and dreadful but captivating to Americans is observed. Cándido Rincon is paralleled to a coyote when their behavior and way of living matches in many instances. América connects to a female coyote when they both see men, especially ones in uniform and from immigration, as their enemies. T.C. Boyle explores the argument of the immigration issue through Delaney’s column about coyotes. Americans will always use Mexican immigrants, who want to survive and make a living, to take the low wage, hard labor jobs they demand be filled.