Gated Communities and Segregation in the Tortilla Curtain - Essay Example

?Gated communities and Segregation in The Tortilla Curtain by T.C. Boyle Part Immigration of people into United s is an ‘omnipresent’ aspect of American life, as people from all over the world, view U.S. as the land of optimal opportunities, and so enter it both legally and illegally. Although, illegal immigration is a cause of concern, when viewed from another perspective, it is leading to a cycle of racism and ostracism against the immigrants. Although, U.S. was founded on the belief that it is a free country for all to live in, the competitiveness of its natives is clashing with the aspirations of the new immigrants over jobs and land, leading to various social problems. Though segregation based on race, ethnicity, religion, etc., is now illegal, there are still some practices among the citizens like the existence of gated communities that cause segregation and racism. Although, one section of people views gated communities as a feasible and practical way of living, other sections view it as ‘islands’ which promote segregation. This issue of gated communities forms a subtle but a key part of the novel, The Tortilla Curtain written by T.C. Boyle and published by Viking Press in 1995. Boyle is a ‘Distinguished Professor’ of English at the University of Southern California and lives in the Santa Barbara. He has written over 12 novels as well as more than 100 short stories winning, with many of his works reflecting the issues and lifestyle of people living in California including The Tortilla Curtain. “The Southern California writer T. C. Boyle captures the separation that marks daily life in Los Angeles.” (Fuller, Bridges and Pai 145). Boyle sets his novel in the Topanga Canyon where the lives of two couples, who live an entirely different lifestyles, cross each other with tragic and at the same thought-provoking results. The main protagonist couple, Delaney, a sensitive writer about nature and Kyra Mossbacher, an obsessive real estate agent, move in to a newly gated community nestled among the natural surroundings called Arroyo Blanco. The other couple is the Mexican illegal immigrants, Candido and his pregnant wife America Rincon, who enter the American borders illegally wanting to achieve the American Dream of a prosperous life, but live in an awful condition in a makeshift camp deep in the Topanga Canyon. When a freak car accident involving Delaney and Candido happens, it leads to further interactions between the couples with their opposing worlds intersecting in a problematic and tragic manner. The interactions between the couples mainly arise due the setting of the gated community. Boyle paints the picture of a strictly conforming gated community, where all the houses were white with orange roofs. “…lay the massed orange tile rooftops of Arroyo Blanco” (Boyle 74). The private community gives a sense of exclusivity. The concept of a gated community, with a homeowners association, is to provide a safe neighborhood with all the facilities. However, when viewed from another perspective, by facilitating families of similar races and class to live closer together, while ‘ignoring’ other sections of the people, it is leading to segregation. Part 2: Gated community is the term given to the residential neighborhoods which have a surrounding wall and a main gate for entry. This form of residential living has become a key part of the new housing market, particularly in the urban areas. It is viewed as a new form of urbanism, under which public spaces in various geographical territories are being privatized. They have thus become a “symbol of metropolitan fragmentation and social segregation”, with segregation happening mainly along economic and racial lines (Le Goix 76a). Le Goix (9) further states that “gated communities are located within every kind of middle class and upper-class neighborhoods, with half of them are located within the rich, upper-scale and mostly white neighborhoods, and one third are located within the middle-class, average income and white suburban neighborhood”. Thus, gated community is becoming an integral part of living in U.S. When one focuses on the reasons for their establishment, it gives key perspectives. One of the reasons for the development and proliferation of these gated communities is the socio-economic changes that took place in the second half of the 20th century. That is, gated enclaves are viewed as physical and economic expressions of the “post-industrial societal changes.” (Arbury 38). In addition, they are viewed as a penetration of ideologies of fear and security. (Le Goix 2). The above mentioned reason of fear and security weighs heavily in the minds of the people, when they opt for gated communities. People view the current social environment as dangerous, and so the children and even adults have to be given a secured and controlled social environment. “Fueled by a media that almost constantly bombards us with images of violence and crime, people have become more fearful. The idea of the walls and the controlled access gates promises an escape from this fear.” (Aranda). Also, residents are provided with exclusive roads, community centers for functions, amenities for sports, entertainment, leisure, etc, etc. Thus, these gated communities have security related features as well as a whole a lot of comfort related features. However, this form of living is leading to more social exclusion and segregations. This is because voluntary gating and the related restrictions prevent people of other races and economic class into that space. According to social thinkers, this form of living is leading to more secession by certain section of people, instead of ‘common’ way of living. “The purposes of these communities were to foster segregation, and increase the sense of exclusion. Put bluntly, the rich desired to separate themselves from their less socially advanced neighbors.” (Aranda). Although, there are anti-discrimination laws which prevent these gated communities from rejecting and excluding any people on the basis of race, economic status, religion and ethnicity, they could be in-directly discouraged. As people belonging to particular race or economic class live in that community, they may band together isolating the families, which do not come under the specific categories. “Very significant socio-economic dissimilarities are found to be associated with the enclosure, thus defining very homogeneous territories, especially on income and racial criteria.” (Le Goix 1). Due to this pattern, the native people belonging to minority sections of the populations are discouraged to become part of these communities. Furthermore, the immigrants are particularly avoided, with their presence in the vicinity even viewed as a threat to the gated community. Part 3: From the above analysis of the gated communities in U.S., it can be implied that Boyle’s portrayal of the Arroyo Blanco and its inhabitants particularly Delaney were maximally accurate and realistic, as it reflects the situation in 1990s as well as now. This can be gleaned through the character of Delaney, as he transforms from a man who does not want a wall around their community, to a man who wants segregation and even goes to the extent of harming the immigrants, who he mistakenly views as a threat. Delaney is initially shown as a liberal humanist and supporter of nature, who opposes the community’s decision to build a wall around it. Although, that may imply that he is anti-segregationist, when viewed deeply that opposition seems to have emerged because of his self-interest. As building the wall would practically hamper his access and study of nature for his professional writing, he seems to have expressed his opposition. His self-interest clearly comes to the fore, when hits Candido with his car. Although he hits a human and without finding what happened to him, his first concern is whether any damage has occurred to his car. When viewed from another perspective, Delaney in that scene and throughout the story struggles with an internal ethical dilemma, regarding whether to support or oppose illegal immigration and the resultant segregation. That is, as mentioned above, although he initially focused more on his car than the injured Candido, due to his fear of conscience he gives Candido Twenty dollar bill. However, when he is viewed with the liberal humanist tag, it seems that giving the money is just an after-thought, and a selfish behavior, as he wanted to have a clear conscience rather than to care and support Candido. “Because he'd just left the poor son of a bitch there alongside the road, abandoned him, and because he'd been glad of it, relieved to buy him off with his twenty dollars' blood money. And how did that square with his liberal-humanist ideals?” (Boyle 13). If he had really cared for him, he should have carried him to the hospital (although Candido would have refused because of his illegal status), or at least should have given more money, so he could take apt medical treatment through some other options. Delaney’s mindset against the immigrants and in favor of segregation reaches it critical state, when in the end he speaks and acts with a lot of racial hatred. That is, Delaney frequently uses racist epithets, he then “destroys evidence proving that Candido was not the vandal at Arroyo Blanco Estates, harasses a Latino man who was innocuously delivering flyers, and accuses two unassuming Mexican men of being arsonists.” (Lopez-Calvo 27). His transformation into a racial bigot who wants the Mexican immigrants out of his life and his community, achieves completion, when Delaney with a gun in his hand and a paranoiac mind “becomes the flag-bearer of white racial anxiety in contemporary Los Angeles.” (Lopez-Calvo 27). He tries to kill Candido by attacking him in his dwelling in the Canyon. For all the talk of segregation and prevention of ‘invasion’ by the Mexican immigrants into their community, Delaney is the one who actually trespassed into an immigrant’s home, although it may not be organized or authorized. Notwithstanding the irony, it is clear that gated communities with maximum White people always feared about activity of minorities and other immigrants, thereby wanting more segregation. This is also reflected in the recent killing of the African American Trayvon Martin within a gated community in Florida by a community watch coordinator. (Sendensky). Thus, Boyle in his work, The Tortilla Curtain subtly but strongly shows how gated communities promote segregation, even pushing individuals to act aggressively against fellow human beings. Works Cited Aranda, Natalie. “The Growth of Gated Communities and Their Impact of Social Segregation.” EZine Articles, 31 Oct 2006. Web. 11 May 2012. Arbury, Joshua. “From Urban Sprawl to Compact City – An analysis of urban growth management in Auckland.” Angel Fire, n. d. Web. 11 May 2012. Boyle, T. Coraghessan. The Tortilla Curtain. Viking, 1995. Fuller, Bruce, Margaret Bridges and Seeta Pai. Standardized Childhood: The Political and Cultural Struggle Over Early Education, Stanford University Press, 2007. Le Goix, Renaud. “Gated communities: Sprawl and social segregation in southern California.” HAL, Oct 2004. Web. 11 May 2012. ---. “Gated communities as Predators of Public Resources: the outcomes of fading Boundaries between Private Management and Public Authorities in Southern California.” Private Neighbourhoods: Global and local perspectives. Ed. Georg Glasze, Chris Webster, Klaus Frantz. Routledge, 2006. 76-91 Print Lopez-Calvo, Ignacio. Latino Los Angeles in Film and Fiction: The Cultural Production of Social Anxiety. University of Arizona Press, 2011. Sedenksy, Matt. “Old photos may be deceptive in Fla. shooting case.” SF Gate, 11 May 2012. Web. 11 May 2012. Read More