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| Plot Summary of Tortilla Flat |
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"Loosely based in the King Arthur's legend, as Steinbeck stated, war veteran Danny returns to his home in Tortilla Flat, and begins to drink heavily. He finds that his grandfather, a very respected citizen of Tortilla Flat, has just passed away and Danny inherits two of his houses.
Danny rents one of theses properties to Pilon and Pablo, friends of his also addicted to alcohol. They cheat each other, go after women and work part-time in the sea shore taking care of the goods.
Finally, they desire the money of a hard-working outcast named Pirate, who teaches them to respect each other's belongings and find peace in themselves. Danny has an epiphany as he realizes his life is repetitive and without direction and, not knowing quite sure what he needs, commits suicide while being drunk. The two properties burn down and the remaining friends split following different paths."
Augusto Wong Campos, Resident Scholar
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" Danny, a young man living in poverty and alcoholism in California, finds out after being released from prison that his grandfather has died, and Danny has inherited two houses. Soon, he has invited one friend to live with him, who invites another, who invites another, until the floor of the rooms are covered with peoples' belongings. Steinbeck describes in detail the escapades of the friends, from chasing women and buying them vacuum cleaners to rooting around the forest in the middle of the night trying to find gold, until one day, Danny begins to think about the old days, when he was free to sleep on the streets or in the forest, drink as much wine as he could afford and be put in jail, and have no place to live, and no one to have to come home to. He leaves his friends and spends a few days wandering the streets, before his friends convince him to come home again. However, Danny is still stir crazy. Can this friendship utopia last?"
Caroline T, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of Tortilla Flat |
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Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Tone of book?
- depressed
Time/era of story
- 1900-1920's
Internal struggle/realization?
Yes
Struggle over
- vague finding self/purpose in life (i.e. no plot to book)
Is this an adult or child's book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
Druggie/Wino problems?
- alcohol
Main Character
Gender
- Male
Profession/status:
- unemployed
Age:
- 20's-30's
Eccentric/Mental
Yes
Eccentric:
- emotionally unstable
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
- Hispanic/Latinic
How sensitive is this character?
- sensitive to others' feelings
- hard edged
Sense of humor
- Strong but gentle sense of humor
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
Physique
- average physique
- healthy but a geeky weakling
Main Adversary
Identity:
- none
Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings?
- 3 (some)
United States
Yes
The US:
- California
Farm/Ranch?
Yes
Style
Person
- mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death?
- no torture/death
- explicit references to torture
Sex in book?
Yes
What kind of sex:
- vague references
Amount of dialog
- significantly more dialog than descript
- significantly more descript than dialog
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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