The Tortilla Curtain

The narrator says, "She can't see, Candido, she can't see anything, America said, and in that moment he had a vision of his perfect plump little daughter transmogrified into an old hag with a cane and a Seeing Eye dog, and before he could assimilate the meaning of that in all its fearful permutations and banish it from his consciousness-(pg
             352). Candido's worst fears come true when his child who was born the on American soil and served as a motive for him and America to struggle through the hardships of life was born blind. The child's blindness has both literal and figurative meaning in that its blindness represents the blind hope that Candido and America had of acquiring an apartment of their own and becoming Americans. As Candido realizes that his child is blind, he opens up his eyes and for the first time is able to see the hopelessness of his situation. As the mudslide washes Delaney down the mountain he, just like Candido, realizes this hatred towards the poor immigrants was wrong. The narrator says, " and there was the pelirrojo, the white face and flailing white arms, caught up in the mad black swirl of it like a man drowning in shit." Delaney came to the shack inhabited by Candido and his family feeling that he was all-powerful. Ironically, as the mudslide started he became helpless "like a man drowning in shit." As Candido suffers the wrath of nature through the eyes of his blind daughter, Delaney suffers because of his own hatred. .
             Both Candido and Delaney try to create and maintain their lifestyles and in the process have come to forget the power of Nature. Delaney attempts to punish the "Mexicans" for threatening his lifestyle, while Candido is trying to create a normal life style for his family. In both cases there is a divine intervention that controls the fates of both men. In the moment of the natural disaster that overwhelms Candido he feels a heavenly presence.