T.C. Boyle's The Tortilla Curtain is a novel dealing with the
             controversial subject of illegal immigration in America, specifically
             dealing with Mexicans crossing the border into California. While this is
             the overall subject of the novel, there are various themes within the book.
             One of the most noticeable ones is that of the American dream, where the
             novel deals with how it is obtained and how people act when they have
             achieved the dream, and when they are trying to achieve the dream. To
             comment on this theme, Boyle includes a number of symbols in the novel.
             Four major symbols seen are the car crash incident, walls and borders,
             houses, and coyotes. Through the use of these symbols, Boyle shows how
             those that have obtained the American dream become so busy protecting it
             that they actually force out everyone else, while not even gaining real joy
             from having achieved it. Each of the four symbols will now be looked at in
             turn, while explaining how each contributes to the theme.
             One of the major events that is symbolic is when Delaney hits Candido
             with his car. Hodgins (206) describes how events are symbolic because they
             represent something larger than the single event. In this case, the single
             event is that Delaney collides with Candido. The larger event this
             represents is that one who has achieved the American dream is colliding
             with one who has not. Boyle allows the two to collide by having them
             involved in a physical collision. In one way, this is a means by which the
             two characters stories become entwined. In another way, it becomes
             representative of the conflict between the rich with their home in
             California, and the poor who are trying to make a home in California.
             Boyle makes this point, where he describes Delaney and Candido saying, "For
             a long moment they stood there, examining each other, unwitting perpetrator
             and unwitting victim" (Boyle). In this sente...