Stop the Fear
I want people to see past what the media makes of them. What we see is that Mexicans are bad people who bring misfortune and bad things into the country. That is not always the case, those are the people who manage to get national recognition because of their bad deeds. Yet the good people who come for their children to have a better life or to work to support their parents across the border. These people are being looked down upon because of the bad decisions of people who come from the same place as them. They should live in fear and be punished because of one person who did something wrong. In the book we see Candido trying his best to protect and support America without being caught by the unforgiving. Granted that he has stolen from people, but he didn’t want to. The circumstances didn’t give him a choice just like many other people didn't have.
The message of Peppina's “Mademoiselle Noir” is very clear throughout. The story is a twisted version of Rapunzel, a girl trapped in a tower being accused of something she wasn’t, just like the two Mexicans that came out of the woods during the fire. Yet the people were angry and afraid so their hidden prejudices were revealed: “A man came across this old tower one day... he lifted his head up and saw this young lady.” These lyrics could also reflect how Delaney had his encounter with Candido. That was the beginning of everything that spiraled out of control like in the song. Peppina sings, “The man was so scared, he could only run away, he ran to the town.” In the novel following the incident, Delaney also ran and couldn’t forget about him. He represented how people were afraid of the Mexicans.
The woman in the song didn’t hate or curse the people for burning her hair that would end up killing her. Candido didn’t hate Delaney enough to leave him to die after the mudslide and instead saved him. “But the lady was no demon, she was a lonely soul” emphasizes how they were normal people judged wrong because of their appearance.
| “Mademoiselle Noir” by Peppina |
White Nationalists in The Tortilla Curtain -- by T.C. Boyle |
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“He inserted the bullets...tucked the gun into his holster”(Delaney, 354) |
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| "the jerk with the 'flies', the wiseass,... amazing how the scum comes to the surface" (Delaney, 295) | |
| "thinking how worthless he was... a big fool" (Candido, 332) |