Craft Analysis and Comparative Analysis of “Grapes of Wrath” and “The Tortilla Curtain”
Introduction
“The Tortilla Curtain”by T.C. Boyle’s and “Grapes of Wrath”by John Steinbeck, have earned their place not only in the field of literature but also the minds of many readers who havetaken their time to burn the midnight oil and read them. Boyle and Steinbeck present well- crafted and twisted narrations of people who lived during the era of postmodernism and modernism respectively all geared at addressing bitter truths that characterize human living day in day out. Story telling elements are explored to the fullest by both authors not forgetting a perfect and artistic employment of literary forms and techniques that keep readers turning their pages. Readers are taken through what can be termed as a riveting ride as they follow the lives, actions, and outcomes that befell major players in the novel right from the beginning to the very end of each of the novels (Hicks 43). With their setting being the United states, these extraordinary works of art find their way into the ‘to read list’ just because of the way they reflect what really goes on in a realistic societal setting. they benchmark the realities of what individuals right from the middles class to the poorest of illegal migrants and low class citizens go through to live another day.
This paper presents a craft analysis of the different storytelling elements that are employed by each of the Boyle and Steinbeck in the writing of “The Tortilla Curtain “and the “Grapes of Wrath”respectively.Character development is also explored taking a closer look at the choices made by individual authors, the literary techniques that they choose to employ and the how individual elements of storytelling harmoniously work in synchrony to achieve coherence and effective delivery of intended themes. Through determining how the choices made by individual authors relate to the relevant literary conventions of the time in which the novel was written, a comparative analysis of the two novels is with special attention being paid to elements of storytelling is presented. Themes from the two novels are compared and contrasted in terms of how they are presented and the techniques that make their presentation successful. Lastly, an assessment of the effectiveness of the authors’ choices of different literary techniques in communicating the stories is examined.
“The Tortilla Curtain”
Boyle presents a satirical story that is brilliantly narrated utilizing so many literary devices that include metaphors, similes among many others. It is a story of two families that live in two different realities of life (Hicks 44). The Mossbachers is a wealthy and able family that lives in Arroyo Blanco in a gated community. Delaney and Kyra Mossbacher are Los Angeles liberals who are married and both have jobs that they do that enables them to a live a comfortable and good life in what the author calls a newly gated hilltop community (Boyle 31).Conversely, Candido and America Rincon are two illegal Mexican immigrants who made their way into United States in search of what many know as the ‘American dream. ‘According to Hicks, throughout the novel, the lives of the two families interweave all because the environment or rather nature becomes irresistibly strong bringing out the best and the worst side of the coin of their lives(43). The author employs several storytelling elements which are in line with the Ramsley’s book, “Inducing Reality: The Holy Grail of Storytelling” (De Cave and Zaralli, 58).
The first core element of storytelling that Boyle employs is the element of character and character development (De Cave and Zaralli 58). The audience is introduced to four major characters, Delaney Mossbacher who is a perfectionist who likes jogging and social drinking. The author paints a picture of someone who does not believe in God and is a prolific and perceptive nature writer. Kyra Mossbacher is presented as the second wife to Delaney and a successful business woman managing the Mike Bender Realty company (Boyle 19).Candido Rincon, on the other hand, is a Mexican illegal immigrant who worked in potato fields in Arizona and after his wife cheated on him in Mexico, he married America and left with her to the united states. America Rincon is the wife to Candido at a tender age of 17 years and dreams of a normal life in the united states. It is interesting that the author named the two unlawful immigrants Candido and America. The word Candido means “Naïve” America, means, “optimism for the future.” Boyle develops strong, engaging and to some extend hilarious characters that the reader comes to care about in the course of the story. Delaney and Kyra are developed as proud and insecure characters that would do anything to protect themselves from the illegal immigrants (Hicks 50). Candido and America are optimistic and hardworking people who contrary to Delaney’s belief, are up to no evil.
Central premise is another element of storytelling that is utterly discernible in this novel. A central premise refers to the point or the dominant idea of the story (De Cave and Zaralli 58). The story begins with Delaney unexpectedly hitting Candido with is car. Delaney ends up paying Candido twenty dollars thanks to Candido’s level of desperation. Candido suffers the injuries of the accidents weeks later making him unable to fend for his pregnant wife America. America finds a temporary job since Candido could not continue working. After recovering, Candido is robbed while in the city and America while in canyon is attacked, robbed and raped one of the evenings.
During thanksgiving, Candido accidentally causes fire that threats the gated neighborhood. Candido and America escape and amidst the chaos, America gives birth to a daughter who according to the author was blind and was named Sorocco. Delaney starts hunting for them to kill them (Boyle 401). As he stuck his head into the shelter ready to shoot Candido in the heavy pouring rain, the waters outrageously knock Delaney off into Candido’s shelter and sweeps the whole structure dumping the three including Candido’s baby daughter into the river. Candido and America save themselves and although not highlighted, the baby seems to have succumbed to the terrible ordeal (Hicks 62). Candido shows kindness by saving Delaney from the waters of the river although we are not told what happened thereafter. The story narrates the heartaches, frustrations, challenges and difficulties that the poor and marginalized in the society have to overcome to realize the ‘American dream.’ The Rincon family suffers because of the quest for the American dream, and this forms the central premise of the story.
The author employs description as an element of storytelling to enhance the reader’s involvement in the whole story. He describes how Kyra, who is Delaney’s wife dresses up until he arrives at her workplace in order to show that Delaney’s family belonged to the rich class (Boyle 31). Kyra applied her makeup, wriggled into a form-fitting skirt with matching jacket and propelled her Lexus over the crest of the canyon and into Woodland Hills, where she was the undisputed volume leader at Mike Bender Realty, Inc.” (Boyle 31). He describes how Delaney viewed Candida because of his low class status and poverty to show the disparity between their standards of living by saying that he had invaded his life like an unshakeable parasite and disease (Boyle 332). He further draws in the mind of the reader through description how helpless Candido, Delaney, and America were when they were drowning in the river by comparing them to rats that could not help themselves. Boyle further employs the use of arches as a core element in his storytelling bromance. Arches refer to the sudden or gradual change of people or situations from one extreme to the other (De Cave and Zaralli, 58).
As the novel starts, Delaney interacts with Candido after the accident and he becomes convinced that he might never be in need of Candido’s help. To him, he did not even deserve medical attention after being knocked down. In the end of the story, Delaney cries for help from Candido when he was drowning (Boyle 353). At this point, this is an arch as it is the exact opposite of what should happen. Candido was a rich man in Mexico courtesy of the money he earned out of potato plantation, but after separating with his wife and moving to the United states, he lives miserably and the story ends when Candido has lost the little he had in spite of all efforts to better his life. Boyle employs arches to tell his story.
Lastly, conflict is employed by Boyle in as an element of storytelling to keep the events moving and the reader engaged as the story continues. The author presents a context where those who have are in constant conflicts with those who do not have. The rich in the new gated community erect walls and beef up security in their residence in order to keep the poor, potentially criminal illegal immigrants and the low class from accessing their premises. As if an eight feet wall is not enough, the rich resort to build walls to keep them away from the poor(Boyle 296). Even though Candido was happy that his wife could provide for him food when he was injured, conflict of interest is visible in his mind as he feels this should not be the case as he should be the provider. Conflicts heighten when Delaney resorts to kill Candido because he suspected that he was the one behind the fire incident during thanksgiving (Boyle 332). This is a reflection of what happens when those who have resort to using force to get what they want when dealing with those who do not have.
“The Grapes of Wrath”
John Steinbeck presents a sizzling and captivating story of Tom Joad and his family who were tenant farmers for many years in Oklahoma are compelled to leave their farms due to the riveting economic pressure in the depression-era Oklahoma dust bowl following a serious drought that had hit the country. This is a man who had already served a four-year sentence after being convicted of man slaughter. It is a story that narrates the rickety and thorn-checkered journey to California in an old truck. Old cars, cabins and truck were the order of highway 66 to the promised land that carried the hope for jobs, land, good life, money and a future.
In the course of their dramatic journey, the fabrics that knit their family unit together loosen and the family dwindles (Steinbeck 21). Granpa and Granma die along the way and they are buried. Joad’s eldest son Noah and Connie who is Joads son in law fall out of the family in the course of the tormenting journey. However, the rest of the family see very little left for them in Oklahoma and choose to hold onto their faith and hope of a beautiful California. It is a realist novel with a strong historical context and endearing legacy (Ditsky 24). Steinbeck’s passion to depict the plight of those who do not have is unmatched. He presents to the readers realities and painful unfolding that characterize the path of those who follow a conviction to change their lives and uplift their status.
Steinbeck uses central premise as the most important and critical element of storytelling in this story of changes and oppression. The premise that ‘change is inevitable’ becomes apparent when Joad and his family are forced to abandon the home they once loved in Oklahoma for California for them to survive (Ditsky 27). The people did not have control over the triggering factor that led to their migration, and that is too little rain. Modernization and industrialization came in, and the machines killed their romantic attachment for the land, human laborers and snatched people’s jobs in the farms with Steinbeck (22) calling at sexual force. The industrial economy changed how people worked in the farms and almost all unprofitable land was force closed. The Joads family get to California and to their surprise, they could not own land like in Oklahoma, being rendered workers in other people’s farms. The family composition changes after Granma and Granpa die. Steinbeck narrates a story full of changes drawing in the readers’ mind the pain, struggle and uncertainties that may come with change.
Steinbeck develops his character through in a creatively crafted way that brings out all themes well. Character development happens mostly with Tom Joad Jr. The story begins with him being released from prison for homicide, to develop into the strongest leader of the family. He does not regret of despair because of his past failures but lives his present to the fullest (Ditsky 31). Steinbeck creates a connection with between the reader and Joad Tom that the reader starts wishing the best for him as he leaves for California. The mother is developed into a strong leader of the family. So strong, that the father threatens to give her a good whipping. The reverend Casy who is seen in the beginning telling everyone that he was no longer a cleric in the ends up becomes the leader of the out of work pickers. Ivy and Sairy Wilson are brought into the picture by Steinbeck to represent those people are always willing to help out (Steinbeck 222). The lend Joad’s family a tent to give Granpa a comfortable place to die. He further employ crucible, giving an account of the hardships that the family goes through before they get to California. All the hardships foreshadow what awaits them in California.
Conflict is another key element of storytelling employed by Steinbeck in presenting the lives and accounts of the Joads. Man verses man conflict is evidently dominant throughout the novel right from Tom Joad’s incident of manslaughter to conflict between the farmers and institutions such as the bank. “We can’t depend on it. The bank – the monster has to have profits all the time. “It can’t wait. It’ll die. No, taxes go on. When the monster stops growing, it dies. It can’t stay one size” (Steinbeck32). In Californian people are seen paying fellow humans low wages and engaging in unrests and strikes. Man verses machines conflict become evident in Oklahoma when people see industrialization as a killer of their love for the land, jobs and wages. “The tenant men looked up alarmed. But what will happen to us? How’ll we eat? You’ll have to get off the land. The plows’ go through the dooryard” (Steinbeck33). In California, the rich who are the land owners are in constant conflict with their workers sparking protests. Furthermore, Steinbeck uses the third person point of view throughout the narrative chapters. And he uses the narrative to “show” the reader what’s happening to the characters.
Comparison
Comparing the two great works of art, it is true that the use of elements of storytelling are have been explored exhaustively within different contexts and settings. The two authors have explored character development far and wide portraying characters that the reader can easily identify with as the main characters or protagonists (Hicks 45). However, Steinbeck emphasizes and develops Tom Joad more than the other characters as compared to Boyle who develops his Delaney and Candido almost equally. Unlike Steinbeck, the characters developed by Boyle interact more with each other and in the process develop each other so that the reader can easily determine the type of characters he or she associates with (Hicks 47). The premise for both the novels revolves around the interaction of those who have and those who do not have. Both Candido and Joad desire to rise and improve the standards of their lives is fought back by the rich and powerful individuals in their different settings. Both authors use descriptions as an element of storytelling even though the difference is lies in the way they are delivered. In the novel the tortilla curtain, the author descriptions are mostly metaphorical while Steinbeck gives descriptions in the narrative chapters of the novel (Hicks 49). The third person point of view in descriptions gives the reader an opportunity to view characters with an open mind and an opportunity to agree or disagree with the author.
The element of conflict is argued that it not only makes a story interesting, but also makes it lively, real and attractive to readers. “The Tortilla Curtain” presents a conflict between those who have and those who do not have. Delaney represents the rich class while Candido the poor in the society. The rich are willing to do anything to bar the uprising of the poor because the rift is advantageous to them (Hicks 55). On the other hand, the “Grapes of Wrath” present a conflict that cuts across many contexts. Although the biggest conflict that informs the novel is between man of the poor society and the man of the rich nation other conflicts such as the man verses machines and man verses nature ensues in the course of the novel (Steinbeck 11). The scope is far much wider and broader as compared to Boyles’s “The Tortilla Curtain”.
Themes that inform “The Tortilla Curtain” and “The Grapes of Wrath” represent the encounters that characterize the lives of struggling people trying to make ends meet. Boyle brings out the themes of racism through describing the way native and rich American view and think of illegal Mexicans who stay close to their neighborhoods, “Delaney felt the relief wash over him—the man wasn’t going to die, he wasn’t going to sue, he was all right and it was over” (Steinbeck8). The theme of the American dream is one of the most poignant themes; in fact the reason Candido left his country to stay miserably in the united states. A dream of a better life, better house, a good car, affordable health, food and employment constitute what many sought for coining all of them the American dream (Hicks 59).
The theme of American lifestyle food and possessions and change are all common to the two novels. Steinbeck presents the theme of powerlessness and inhumanity through the narration of how helpless and poor people are forced to leave their farms by banks due to economic pressures. Just like in “The Tortilla Curtain”, the theme of the American dream also arise when people migrate to California hoping that they will get good health, employment and a future unlike in their farms in the dust bowls. Themes of industrialization and mechanization, man’s connection to the land, and death and suffering. The theme of hopes and hopelessness as the Joads decide to go all the way to California is dominant. The family chooses to stick together in times of atrocities while others such as Connie left the family. Hopes and hopelessness is also best brought out by America in Boyle’s novel.
The theme of death and suffering is common denominator that both authors use to give their stories a somber mood. Candido loses his baby daughter to floods which swept their shelter into the river. Delaney loses his pet that he loved to coyotes that invaded his compound and killed it. the Joads family loses Grandpa and Granpa on their journey to California, Rosasharn gives birth to a dead baby on a train boxcar that was about to be flooded with the heavy rains. Casy dies while trying to stick up for the pickers; and Tom accidentally kills a man with a pick ax handle and has to hide (Ditsky 88). The authors through this theme remind the readers of death as part and parcel of the stages of any human being (De Cave and Zaralli, 58).
Conclusion
“The Tortilla Curtain” and “The Grapes of Wrath” will live to be read an appreciated many years to come because they narrate human life in a realistic way that can be appreciated in real life. The books share numerous themes and elements of storytelling even though there contemporary styles are totally different. “The Tortilla Curtain” presents themes in a postmodern society which are not so different from themes presented in a modern society seen through the eyes of Boyle in the “Grapes of Wrath.” After a critical analysis of the two novels, one fundamental thing that remains unsolved and untouched since time immemorial is the gap between the haves and the have-nots. The disparity is discernible and the quest to reduce if not completely close it is far from over. Through these mind blowing novels, minds are empowered, enlightened, uplifted, and reincarnated to shape a generation and society.
Works cited
Boyle, T.C. The Tortilla Curtain. New York City: Penguin Books, 1995. Print.
De Cave, Marco, and Francesco Zaralli. “Telling Stories About Storytelling: A Very Brief Guide.” Cultural Management and Tourism in European Cultural Routes: from theory to practice (2016): 58.
Ditsky, John, ed. Critical Essays on Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath. Twayne Publishers, 1989.
Hicks, Heather J. “On Whiteness in T. Coraghessan Boyle’s The Tortilla Curtain.” Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction 45.1 (2003): 43-64.
Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York City: Penguin Books, 2006. Print.
