Tortilla Flat
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| A recent "Tortilla Flat" cover | |
| Author | John Steinbeck |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Novel |
| Publisher | Covici-Friede |
| Released | 1935 |
| Media Type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| ISBN | NA |
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For other uses, see Tortilla Flat (disambiguation).
Tortilla Flat (1935) is an early Steinbeck novel set in Monterey, California.
The book portrays with great sympathy and humour a group of paisanos (fellows/countrymen), denouncing society by enjoying life and wine in the midst of the Great Depression. Tortilla Flat was made into a film in 1942.
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[edit] Plot introduction
Steinbeck gives a description of what a paisano is: "He is a mixture of Spanish, Indian, Mexican and assorted Caucasian bloods. His ancestors have lived in California for a hundred(s) years. (...) He lives in that uphill district above the town of Monterey called Tortilla Flat, though it isn't a flat at all."
The central character Danny inherits two houses from his grandfather (who died) where he and his friends go to live. The riotous adventures they have are compared to the exploits of the Knights of King Arthur. Saint Francis appears as their patron saint.
Steinbeck would return to the locals of Monterey in his later novel Cannery Row (1945).
[edit] Plot summary
Above the town of Monterey on the California coast lies the shabby district of Tortilla Flat, inhabited by a colorful gang whose revels recall the exploits of King Arthur's knights. Soft-hearted, unquestioningly loyal to one another, and in complete disregard of social conventions and expectations, the gutsy denizens of Tortilla Flat cheerfully reside in a world of idyllic poverty. "The extraordinary humors of these curiously childlike natives are presented with a masterly touch."
— William Rose Benét
Chapter Summary
1 How Danny, home from the wars, found himself an heir, and how he swore to protect the helpless. — After inheriting two houses from his grandfather, Danny gets drunk and goes to jail. He and the jailer drink wine at Torelli's. After escaping, Danny talks Pilon into sharing his brandy and his houses.
2 How Pilon was lured by greed of position to forsake Danny's hospitality. — Danny fails to get the water turned on. Pilon kills a rooster, rents Danny's second house, and exchanges paper roses for a gallon of Señora Torelli's wine.
3 How the poison of possessions wrought with Pilon, and how evil temporarily triumphed in him. — Danny and Pilon share wine, two women, and a fight. Drunk a second time, Pilon sublets half his house to Pablo
4 How Jesus Maria Corcoran, a good man, became an unwilling vehicle of evil. — Pablo, Pilon and Danny dicker over women and rent. Pablo and Pilon sublet their house to Jesus Maria for his $2. Potential girlfriends' present exchanged for wine..
5 How Saint Francis turned the tide and put a gentle punishment on Pilon and Pablo and Jesus Maria. — Pilon and Pablo enjoy two gallons of wine. Monterey prepares for night. Pablo enjoys dinner, firewood and love from Mrs. Torelli. Jesus Maria beaten up by soldiers because he enjoys their whiskey and their Arabella. Pablo's candle, dedicated to St. Francis, burns down the house, while Danny and Mrs. Morales pay no attention.
6 How three sinful men, through contrition, attained peace. How Danny's friends swore comradeship. — Pablo, Pilon and Jesus Maria sleep in the pine forest. They wake up smelling a picnic lunch which becomes theirs and is shared with Danny into whose remaining house they move.
7 How Danny's friends became a force for good. How they succored the poor pirate. — The Pirate, his dogs, his house, his hoard of quarters. He moves into Danny's and explains that the money is dedicated.
8 How Danny's friends sought mystic treasure on Saint Andrew's Even. How Pilon found it and later how a pair of serge pants changed ownership twice. — Joe Portagee returns from army jail, burns down a whorehouse, goes to jail. He and Pilon seek treasure on St. Andrew's Eve (29 Nov). Next night, with wine Joe got for Danny's blanket, they dig up "UNITED STATES GEODECTIC SURVEY + 1915 + ELEVATION 600 FEET". They get drunk on the Seaside beach, Pilon trades Joe's pants for wine, then steals back the pants and blanket.
9 How Danny was ensnared by a vacuum cleaner and how Danny's friends rescued him. — Danny trades copper nails for money for a vacuum cleaner from Mr. Simon to give to Sweets Ramirez (who has no electricity), where he spends every evening until Pilon takes it, trades it for wine, which makes Torelli angry when he learns it has no motor.
10 How the friends solaced a corporal and in return received a lesson in paternal ethics. — Jesus Maria befriends a young man with a baby and brings him to the house. The baby is sick. A Capitán has stolen the man's wife. The baby dies, and the man explains why he wanted to baby to be a generál.
11 How, under the most adverse circumstances, love came to Big Joe Portagee. — Joe Portagee comes out of the rain into Tia Ignacia's. He drinks her wine, goes to sleep, wakes up to a beating. A policeman asks them to stop doing what they're doing in the road.
12 How Danny's friends assisted the pirate to keep a vow, and how as a reward for merit the pirate's dogs saw a holy vision. — The house beats Big Joe into unconsciousness for stealing Pirate's money bag. They take the thousand two-bitses to Father Ramon for him to buy a candlestick and feast the Pirate with money from salvage at Carmel. In San Carlos Church on Sunday the Pirate sees his candlestick before St. Francis. The dogs rush into church. Later he preaches all of Fr. Ramon's St. Francis stories to the dogs, which are suddenly startled by something behind him.
13 How Danny's friends threw themselves to the aid of a distressed lady. — Teresina's healthy babies live on tortillas and beans. When the bean crop is ruined, Danny's housemates steal food all over Monterey for the children. The arrival of sacks of beans (a miracle), and Teresina is pregnant again.
14 Of the good life at Danny's house, of a gift pig, of the pain of Tall Bob, and of the thwarted love of the viejo Ravanno. — Why the windows shouldn't be cleaned. The friends tell stories. Danny: how Cornelia lost Emilio's little pig to its sow. Pablo: how everyone laughed after Tall Bob blew his nose off. Jesus Maria: how Petery Ravanno got Gracie by hanging himself and how the viejo hanged himself and died.
15 How Danny brooded and became mad. How the Devil in the shape of Torelli assaulted Danny's house. — Danny moves to the forest and can't be found by his friends. When Torelli shows the friends the bill of sale for Danny's house, they burn it.
16 Of the sadness of Danny. How through sacrifice Danny's friends gave a party. How Danny was translated. — Danny is deeply remoroseful. His friends work a whole day cutting squid for Chin Kee. All of Tortilla Flat make a party at Danny's home. He enjoys many women, challenges all men to fight (wielding a table leg). He dies after a forty-foot fall in the gulch.
17 How Danny's sorrowing friends defied the conventions. How the talismanic bond was burned. How each friend departed alone. — Danny's friends can't dress adequately for his military funeral. They tell stories of him beforehand, in the gulch. Afterward they drink wine stolen by Pilon from Torelli's. Pablo sings "Tuli Pan." A tossed match sets fire to the house, and the friends watch in approval. No two walk away together from the smoking ruins.
[edit] Characters in "Tortilla Flat"
- Tito Ralph – jailer in Monterey
- Mr. Torelli – purveyor of wine in Tortilla Flat
- Pilon – Danny's old friend from Tortilla Flat
- Mrs. Morales – Danny's neighbor over the fence
- Mrs. Soto – Pilon's neighbor over the fence
- Chin Kee – owner of a squid yard at China Point
- Pablo Sanches – drunk in a ditch who moves in with Pilon
- Jesus Maria Corcoran – red-bearded drunk in a ditch
- Mrs. Torelli – called "Butter Duck" by Pablo and Pilon
- Arabella Gross – cannery worker
- Pirate – big black-bearded man whose head has not grown with his body
- Big Joe Portagee – friend of Danny's from before the war
- Dolores Engracia Ramirez – "Sweets" who asks passing men a'onde vas?
- Mr. Simon – owner of Simon's Investment, Jewelry, and Loan Company
- Johnny Pom-Pom – brings news of Torelli's anger over the vacuum
- Señor Capor´l – young solder from Chihuahua
- Manuel – the caporál's baby
- Tia Ignacia – 45-year-old widow, mostly Indian
- Jake Lake – a Monterey motorcycle policeman
- Father Ramon – pastor of San Carlos Church
- Teresina Cortez – thirty-year-old mother of eight
- Angelica – fifty-year-old mother of Teresina
- Teresina's children: – Alfredo, Ernie, Panchito, five others
- Cornelia Ruiz – knows only loving and fighting
- Emilio – gives a little pig to Cornelia
- Tall Bob Smoke – wants to be admired, is laughed at
- Charlie Meeler – grabbed the gun which blew Bob's nose off
- Petey Ravanno – childhood friend of Jesus Maria
- Mr. Ravanno – Petey's father
- Susy – Petey's sister, now in Old Jenny's house in Salinas
- Gracie Montez – first baby at twelve, when the fleet came in
- Tonia Montez – Gracie's sister
[edit] Pilon
Pilon is one of Danny's friends. He is the first one Danny meets in the novel and seems to have known Danny before the war. Danny rents him the smaller of the two houses, though Pilon never pays the rent and Danny never asks for it. Pilon then rents the house to Pable and Jesus Maria, neeither of whom pay the rent or are asked to. Pilon is the logician of the group, and he often comes up with their clever schemes. He shows a contrast between good and evil in the book, and is sometimes greedy, while other times very noble and selfless.
[edit] Danny
Danny, the heir to two houses, is the leader among his friends. Although he is wild and crazy, he is the force that binds them together and creates the fellowship that is the subject of Tortilla Flat. He is the one with whom the friends must pass every decision they make. He comes to a violent end in the end of the novel when he goes wild at a party thrown by his friends and falls off a cliff.
[edit] The Pirate
Called the Pirate for his big black beard, he is described in the book as being very simple minded and perhaps even retarded. He is a kind man who earns his living collecting wood and selling it daily for 25 cents a whellbarrowfull. He begs for his food, and eats quite well. He hides the 25 cents in a hoard in the forest to save up for a candle honoring a miracle involving one of his dogs. The Pirate takes five dogs with him everywhere he goes. He feels a stronger understanding for the dogs than for the people in the novel, although he is loyal to his friends and does not question them.
[edit] Pirate's dogs:
- Enrique – described as houndish
- Pajarito – brown, curly
- Rudolph – an American dog
- Fluff – a pug
- Señor Alec Thompson – Airedale like
- Unnamed 6th dog, killed by truck earlier.
[edit] Film, TV or theatrical adaptations
The 1942 Victor Fleming film adaptation featured Spencer Tracy and John Garfield as California paisanos and Hedy Lamarr as a Mexican cannery worker.
[edit] External links
