Nature in Tortilla Curtain

What is the world without nature? Nature creates not only setting but introduces a new level to the characters of many novels. T.C. Boyle's The Tortilla Curtain is a struggle between man and nature, sometimes straightforward however more often ironic. Playing a pivotal role though out the novel, nature is used to compare and contrast characters, display their lifestyles and the differences between the completely different worlds, of the novel, all through Topanga Canyon's setting of high hills and long streams and the prominent use of the Coyote.

The Arroyo Blanco Estates is where, Delaney, one of the main characters resides. Living up to the Spanish name, "The houses were all of the Spanish Mission style, painted in one of three shades of white with orange tile roofs" (30). The community is surrounded by an extremely by a high fence to keep animals and "undesirables" out. Delaney loves this neighborhood for nature is everywhere, he is able to open his back door and step out and hike in the canyon, and this is featured frequently in his column in his monthly magazine. One of the other characters, Candido lives in Delaney's beloved canyon, which brings up a bit of irony.

Delaney describes Arroyo Blanco as, "the last frontier of urban development." (63-64) And as he listens, "a great horned owl begins to hoot softly" followed by "a jet climbing out of LAX cutting a tear into the sky." (64) Boyle's comparison in this scene truly grasps the irony of Delaney's character. As he enjoys the flying owl soaring through the skies as nature intended, the man-made plane comes ripping through the hopes of Delaney's beloved "frontier" symbolizing the sad realization that there is no longer a wild frontier to be discovered, only false imitations of what was once, the unexplored and untouched nature. Delaney considers himself a sort of "pilgrim," (5) and a writer of nature, and although he feels solace peace within his surroundings, the reader can not help but realize that Delaney is in love with the idea of nature rather than the actual thing, "There were no streetlights in Arroyo Blanco - that was one of the attractions, the rural feel, the sense that you were somehow separated from the city and wedded to the mountains." (63)

The most used and possibly the most symbolic aspect of nature Boyle uses throughout the novel is the native coyote. The coyote is repeatedly seen and used in relation to the Rincons that reside in Topanga Canyon. At first, the coyote is a direct metaphor for Candido and America, along with illegal immigrants as a whole. However throughout the novel the coyote becomes a link between Delaney's first thoughts and feelings of the immigrants and the indirect realization he experiences regarding the issue of illegal immigration and the struggle he faces with understanding it.

Boyle first uses the coyote as a symbol to parallel the lives of America and Candido. In Delaney's column he states, "One