Tortilla Curtain Rhetorical Analysis

In the beginning of this novel the tone was set by an unfortunate accident that occurred between an American liberal named Delaney and an illegal immigrant named Candido, who was only trying to make the best of his life and survive in America. Throughout the novel we are able to see some thoughts of certain characters begin to change as certain events begin to take place. In the beginning Delaney believes all immigrants should be given a chance to live life as they wish. Candido was only trying to do all he could to survive. Throughout the novel, the two characters run into unfortunate situations leaving both feeling victimized by these situations. In the beginning Delany is the perpetrator and Candido was the victim. At the scene of the accident Delaney does all he can to try and understand and help Candido. Candido

At this point was when I believe the tone was set. I was able to see this tone throughout the entire novel. As the two characters seem to continue to cross paths, you are able to see Delaney’s opinion on immigrants change tremendously. As the situations carry on throughout the novel, Delaney feels as if he is the only victim. He became so blindsided by the situations he was put in, that he began to turn into having a hate for the immigrants. Any and all situations Delaney had he blamed on Mexicans, even when he had evidence of who committed a crime he was so stuck on thinking it was an immigrant that he hid the evidence. With Candido being around when all of these issues Delaney ran into, this made him believe Candido was the one causing all these crimes. In the end I believe it all came full circle. Delaney is able to realize what he had turned into. On page 363 a line that I believe was empowering for Delaney was “how he was drawn closer to that cold black working heart of the world than he’d ever dreamed possible” At this moment Delaney realized he had just become someone he calmed he never would