Tortilla Flat by John Steinbeck
"Tortilla Flat" is a short novel by John Steinbeck that explores the lives of a group of paisano men in Monterey, California, who embody a blend of Spanish, Indian, and Mexican cultural identities. The narrative highlights their carefree lifestyle, characterized by communal living, joy, and camaraderie, which stands in stark contrast to the encroaching influences of American capitalism. Central to the story is Danny, who inherits property, leading to a shift in dynamics among his friends. The novel portrays the tension between traditional paisano values, centered on sharing and community, and the competitive, individualistic nature of ownership that capitalism promotes.
As the plot unfolds, the burdens of property ownership weigh heavily on Danny, ultimately leading to his despair and tragic end. His friends, grappling with the loss of their communal identity, struggle to reconcile their cultural heritage with the pressures of a capitalistic society. Steinbeck's work serves as a poignant commentary on the erosion of communal values and the impact of economic systems on personal relationships and cultural identity. The novel concludes with a sense of loss and existential reflection, as the paisano community faces the reality of their transformed lives in a rapidly changing California.
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Subject Terms
Tortilla Flat by John Steinbeck
First published: 1935
The Work
Tortilla Flat, John Steinbeck’s first popular success, is a short novel depicting the clash of paisano (combined Spanish, Indian, and Mexican) cultural identity with traditional European, capitalist culture in twentieth century California. The novel shows the seemingly inevitable obliteration of older, communal paisano values by the American capitalistic system.
Initially, a group of paisano young men, led by Danny, live their carefree, nearly possession-free life of drinking wine, engaging in sexual and other escapades, and sleeping off the effects of both in the Monterey jail. Their human closeness and joy in living are unmistakable, but then Danny inherits property. Ownership is the essence of competitive, community-destroying Western capitalism. Danny’s friend Pillon immediately predicts that Danny, having been “lifted above thy friends. . . . wilt forget thy friends who shared everything with thee, even their brandy.” Danny objects that he will continue to share everything, even his houses, with Pillon’s response that “it would be a world wonder if it were so.”
For a time, the “world wonder” exists. Like King Arthur’s knights, an analogy expressly drawn by Steinbeck, Danny and his friends commit themselves to sharing all and helping others, adhering to traditional paisano values. Thus, when Pillon and Jesus Maria unintentionally burn one of Danny’s houses, Danny is secretly happy because the economic disparity, embodied in his friends’ unfulfilled duty to pay rent, had created emotional distance. Eventually wealth’s burdens, especially lack of freedom, drive Danny to despair, and in an attempt to regain his paisano essence, he sells his second house to a greedy local capitalist, the Italian-American bootlegger Torrelli. Danny’s friends destroy the bill of sale, however, having fallen victim to the arrogance of ownership and accumulation central to Torrelli’s (and America’s) capitalistic perspective. Unable thus to free himself from the stranglehold of property ownership, Danny becomes even more psychologically disabled. His friends attempt to revive him by having a traditional celebration of paisano life, replete with crepe paper decorations, many gallons of wine, and much food, music, and dancing. Danny does change his state of mind for the celebration. He “defied emulation as a celebrant” and “roared through the party.” It is his last hurrah. Unable to break the death grip of American capitalism upon his paisano way of life, in one last act of heroically tragic defiance Danny commits suicide. His friends, trapped between cultural identities but realizing intuitively the property’s responsibility for Danny’s death, burn the house to the ground. Having lost their paisano cultural community after the death of their leader, Danny’s friends then behave like the capitalists they may become in a California region that is rapidly destroying paisano culture. They “turned and walked slowly away, and no two walked together.”
Bibliography
Benson, Jackson J., ed. The Short Novels of John Steinbeck: Critical Essays with a Checklist to Steinbeck Criticism. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1990. A comprehensive collection of investigations into Steinbeck’s characters, technique, and motivation. Complete bibliography.
Concise Dictionary of American Literary Biography, 1929-1941. Vol. 5. Detroit: Gale Research, 1989. Brief discussions of all Steinbeck’s major works, set in the context of his life.
Ferrell, Keith. John Steinbeck: The Voice of the Land. New York: Evans, 1986. An introduction to Steinbeck’s life and work written especially for secondary-school students.
Hayashi, Tetsumaro, ed. A Study Guide to Steinbeck: A Handbook to His Major Works. Metuchen, N.J.: The Scarecrow Press, 1974. Introduction to Steinbeck’s works.
Hughes, R. S. John Steinbeck: A Study of the Short Fiction. New York: Macmillan, 1988. A behind-the-scenes look at the creation of Steinbeck’s short fiction, including summaries of published literary criticism.