California University of Pennsylvania The Tortilla Curtain Discussion

I’m working on a writing Discussion and need support to help me understand better.

Boyle, The Tortilla Curtain, Part One, Chapter 8 (pp. 122-142), and Part Two, Chapters 1-3 (pp. 144-194)

1. Chapter 8 depicts a day in the life of América Rincon. If The Tortilla Curtain is a social protest novel, why is this chapter so important? How does Boyle juxtapose América’s hopes and desires with issues of invisible labor and sexual violence, and to what end?
2. In Part 2, Chapter 1, Kyra becomes incensed when she spots the Afghan locked up in the Jeep Cherokee at the restaurant where her and Delaney are having lunch. Compare and contrast Kyra’s character with the events that happened to América Rincon in the preceding chapter. What do you suppose Boyle is trying to say about gender roles in the context of race and class?
3. At the end of Part 2, Chapter 1, Kyra encounters José Navidad and his “Indian” companion who brutally assaulted America in the preceding chapter. The fierceness that Kyra exhibited at the restaurant earlier in the chapter gives way to fear during this encounter with Navidad. Why do you think Boyle ends the chapter this way? What, in your opinion, is he trying to say?

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