nce, Delaney is the
             perpetrator because he has hit Candido, and Candido is the victim because
             he has been hit. And yet, this also suggests something about the
             relationship between the rich and poor, with it suggested that the rich are
             responsible for how the poor live. This is later shown to be true, where
             it is seen that the rich want to keep the poor down to protect their own
             lifestyles. In short, those that have achieved the American dream want to
             prevent others from achieving it and taking it away from them. The way
             Delaney and Candido interact also becomes important for showing the
             relationship between the rich and the poor, or what a reading guide to The
             Tortilla Curtain calls "the haves and the have-nots" (The Tortilla
             Curtain's Reader's Guide). The first aspect that is important is how
             Delaney responds to the accident. As the novel describes, his first
             "To his shame, Delaney's first thought was for the car (was it marred,
             scratched, dented'), and then for his insurance rates (what was this
             going to do to his good-driver discount'), and finally, belatedly, for
             This passage shows that Delaney's concern for Candido is only a last
             thought. Importantly, it is not even that Delaney is concerned about his
             own safety. Instead, he is simply concerned about his car and his
             insurance. This shows a focus on material possessions, with a disregard
             for other people. This is then expanded on where Delaney shows that he
             considers Candido more like an animal than a man. He describes Candido as
             "crouching in the bushes like some feral thing, like a stray dog or bird-
             mauling cat" (Boyle). When Delaney leaves the car and looks for Candido in
             the bushes, the passage also reads more like he is looking for an animal he
             has hit, than for a man. Another animal image is used when Candido is
             describes as "an insect pinned to a mounting board" (Boyle). These images
             all...