Rating: 
Summary: An Arthurian Marvel
Review: Tortilla Flat was an actual place in Carmel that John Steinbeck placed in Monterey. He took some stories about the paisanos (a mixture of Spanish, Indian, Mexican and Caucasian bloods) that lived in this marginal place consisting of shacks and, using the style of the Arthurian legends, spun these tales about Danny and his friends. They are meant to be humorous and serious at times, and the characters are larger than life. Certainly, no one could live as Danny, Pilon, Jesus Marie, Big Joe Portagee and the Pirate, consuming wine by the gallon, eating whatever they can steal and taking up and whoring with any woman they want, but this is hardly the point. The tales have an epic proportion to them like Malory's knights of yore but from the vantagepoint of the New World. This makes Tortilla Flat an entertaining and cleverly written book. Danny is the central character of the book and the anchor that holds his group of friends together. They may be vagabonds but they have a moral code. An example: the Pirate lives with five dogs in a chicken coop. He takes some kindling wood into town each day and receives a quarter for it. He does not spend the money but hoards it. The paisanos estimate it to be $100 and think of stealing it, but are unable to follow the Pirate to where he has hidden the money. To get around this problem they invite the Pirate to live with him and try to discover the whereabouts of the money by suggesting it could be stolen quite easily. The Pirate eventually brings the money to the paisanos and discloses why he is saving it: the money is to fulfill a promise made to St. Francis to present a golden candlestick to a church in the saints honor. Why? Because the saint cured an illness one of his dogs had. Once the paisanos know the money is for a religious purpose they guard it diligently. The chapter in Tortilla Flat when the Pirate's vow is fulfilled is one of the most beautiful and memorable in the book. This is a beautifully written book filled with humor and pathos. Mr. Steinbeck was criticized in writing this book by some readers who could not enter into the spirit of the book thinking he was glorifying the free and easy lives of Danny and company. This was not his intention; he was only telling stories inspired by the free spirits of the paisanos. Unfortunately for us, this criticism was bitter and Mr. Steinbeck never undertook such a book again. It is our loss that he could not give us another Tortilla Flat.
| 
