The Tortilla Curtain

by

T. Coraghessan Boyle

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on The Tortilla Curtain makes teaching easy.

José Navidad Character Analysis

The villain of the novel, José and his unnamed companion (sometimes referred to as the Indian) rape América when they encounter her on a trail leading into the canyon. José’s name is mentioned only once in the novel; other characters describe him as having light eyes and wearing a backwards baseball cap. José is perceived as sinister by nearly all the characters who encounter him, regardless of their race. White characters like Delaney refer to José with racial slurs such as “wetback,” while Mexican characters like Cándido and América refer to him as “half-a-gringo,” due to his light skin. José belongs neither to the white American community nor the Mexican community, and as such is felt to be all the more menacing by the book’s characters. Thus, he is a highly symbolic character, representing the abstract notion of “the other” as something to be feared.

José Navidad Quotes in The Tortilla Curtain

The The Tortilla Curtain quotes below are all either spoken by José Navidad or refer to José Navidad. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Anger, Hatred, and Bigotry Theme Icon
).
Part 1, Chapter 6 Quotes

His skin was light, so light he could almost have passed for one of them, but it was his eyes that gave him away, hard burnished unblinking eyes the color of calf’s liver. He’d been damaged somehow, she could see that, damaged in the way of a man who has to scrape and grovel and kiss the hind end of some irrecusable yankee boss, and his eyes showed it, jabbing out at the world like two weapons. He was Mexican, all right.

Related Characters: América Rincón, José Navidad
Page Number: 81
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 1, Chapter 8 Quotes

There, in the quickening night, with his dirty fingers inside her as if they belonged there and the Indian waiting his turn, he stopped to put a stick of gum in his mouth and casually drop the wrapper on the exposed skin of her back, no more concerned than if he were sitting on a stool in a bar.

Related Characters: América Rincón, José Navidad
Page Number: 141-2
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 2, Chapter 7 Quotes

All she could see was the image of those animals at the border, the half-a-gringo and his evil eyes and filthy insinuating fingers, the fat white man with his fat white hands, and she withdrew into herself, dwelled there deep inside where nobody could touch her. “Hey, baby,” they called when they saw her there trying to melt into the darkness, “hey, ruca, hey, sexy, ¿quieres joder conmigo?

Related Characters: América Rincón, José Navidad, Jim Shirley
Page Number: 234
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 3, Chapter 3 Quotes

Delaney felt a thrill of triumph and hate—he couldn’t suppress it—and then both cops were bending over the suspects to clamp the handcuffs round their wrists, and the tall Mexican, Delaney’s special friend, was protesting his innocence in two languages. The son of a bitch. The jerk. The arsonist. It was all Delaney could do to keep from wading in and kicking him in the ribs.

Related Characters: Delaney Mossbacher (speaker), José Navidad
Page Number: 288
Explanation and Analysis:
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The Tortilla Curtain PDF

José Navidad Quotes in The Tortilla Curtain

The The Tortilla Curtain quotes below are all either spoken by José Navidad or refer to José Navidad. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Anger, Hatred, and Bigotry Theme Icon
).
Part 1, Chapter 6 Quotes

His skin was light, so light he could almost have passed for one of them, but it was his eyes that gave him away, hard burnished unblinking eyes the color of calf’s liver. He’d been damaged somehow, she could see that, damaged in the way of a man who has to scrape and grovel and kiss the hind end of some irrecusable yankee boss, and his eyes showed it, jabbing out at the world like two weapons. He was Mexican, all right.

Related Characters: América Rincón, José Navidad
Page Number: 81
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 1, Chapter 8 Quotes

There, in the quickening night, with his dirty fingers inside her as if they belonged there and the Indian waiting his turn, he stopped to put a stick of gum in his mouth and casually drop the wrapper on the exposed skin of her back, no more concerned than if he were sitting on a stool in a bar.

Related Characters: América Rincón, José Navidad
Page Number: 141-2
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 2, Chapter 7 Quotes

All she could see was the image of those animals at the border, the half-a-gringo and his evil eyes and filthy insinuating fingers, the fat white man with his fat white hands, and she withdrew into herself, dwelled there deep inside where nobody could touch her. “Hey, baby,” they called when they saw her there trying to melt into the darkness, “hey, ruca, hey, sexy, ¿quieres joder conmigo?

Related Characters: América Rincón, José Navidad, Jim Shirley
Page Number: 234
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 3, Chapter 3 Quotes

Delaney felt a thrill of triumph and hate—he couldn’t suppress it—and then both cops were bending over the suspects to clamp the handcuffs round their wrists, and the tall Mexican, Delaney’s special friend, was protesting his innocence in two languages. The son of a bitch. The jerk. The arsonist. It was all Delaney could do to keep from wading in and kicking him in the ribs.

Related Characters: Delaney Mossbacher (speaker), José Navidad
Page Number: 288
Explanation and Analysis: