This paper discusses the novel "The tortilla Curtain" by T.C. Boyle in which two couples in Southern California in the Topanga Canyon area. Boyle finds two different kinds of people for this novel, one a wealthy liberal couple of the sort usually identified with this part of the city, and the other Mexican illegals who camp out in a ravine, away from the oversight of the law and seeking a version of the American Dream while almost starving.