In English 1A, we read T.C. Boyle's The Tortilla Curtain. As soon as we finished, Mr. Lewenstein asked us to contribute a song to our class soundtrack to represent a scene from the novel. We were asked to make our own choices. We made our own connections. Below, I write about Joni Mitchell.
Joni
Mitchell was once known as the Queen of the Canyon.
She developed and refined much of her songwriting genius in L.A.’s Laurel Canyon in the Sixties. Who knows?
That might not be too far away from The Tortilla Curtain’s
Blanco Arroyo. Midway through the
novel, I can hear Joni singing the
perfect song in the background where
America finds herself alone in the woods.
In the shadows, America goes face to face with a wild coyote and
doesn't budge.
Joni’s song? It’s called “Coyote,” of
course: “No
regrets Coyote…We just come from different sets of circumstances…” I believe Joni feels a deep love for the
coyote’s restless, creative soul. They both journey this Earth for their
freedom. They are both survivors. Likewise,
America seems to connect the novel to the forces of nature. I mean her name
itself represents the ground that everyone stands on. America’s dark skin, her jet black hair,
and her tiny frame are all reminiscent of her Indian heritage. In many Indian cultures, children are
introduced to the elements at a very early age, so they develop more of a
respect for nature, and less of a fear.
From the first time we see her in the novel walking along the Pacific
Coast Highway, we know she feels part of it.
“There’s
no comprehending…Just how close to the bone and the skin and the eyes…And the
lips you can get..” sings Joni. “And
feel so alone.” Joni
knows something about surviving harsh realities. So does America. So I love the scene where
America is sitting there all by herself in the shadows of the woods. It must be
both frustrating and frightening . She’s tired and hungry and hurt, and she
hears something but she doesn’t know what. It’s kind of like a dream, but
it’s real – she’s staring face to face with a coyote. And instead of
screaming or panicking, “she
looked at that coyote so long and so hard that she began to hallucinate, to
imagine herself inside those eyes looking out…”
The
sky is blue, the leaves are green, and the coyotes eyes look like they are made
of yellow glass. Joni. America.
The coyote. They are soul
sisters. They are kindred spirits in a harsh world.
