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Richard Andersson In T. Coraghessan Boyles´s The Tortilla Curtain the lives of two people, an illegal Mexican immigrant and a well-off white American from an exclusive community in Los Angeles, are interlocked. It starts when a white American, Delaney Mossbacher, is out driving in the canyon and all of a sudden an illegal immigrant, Cándido Rincón, appears on the road. Delaney does not have time to react and Cándido get hit. From there on we get to know the story of Delaney, Cándido, and their families and friends. The “liberal humanist” Delaney and his wife Kyra, a career woman who never seems to be satisfied with what she have, and focus a lot on material things like a bigger house, even though they already live in a nice house (3). Then there is the “unfortunate” Cándido and his 17 year old wife América; an innocent girl who follows her nearly twice as old husband to America in order to live out the American dream that she have heard so much about, mainly from Cándido. The American dream that everyone have the possibility to make a lot of money just by doing hard work has been a nightmare for many. For Cándido and América, who where living an OK life in Mexico, it will be a dream that never comes true. And for Kyra the dream of more material things and an even better life, than the seemingly good life she already has – much like the Rincóns had in Mexico – keeps her from enjoying what she have and being happy. The American dream may come true for some, but it is probably safe to say that it have kept more people from enjoying what they have – like Kyra – and even destroyed the life of many – like the Rincóns – that leave what they have and take a chance at the American dream. One of the points that Boyle makes is that for many people, no matter how much they have, will always crave for more, and being too greedy prevents us from being happy or even make us become unhappy, if not already. As we get to know the characters we learn their different definitions of what the American dream means to them.
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