Tortilla Flat (Identities and Issues in Literature)
At a glance:
- Author: John Steinbeck
- First Published: 1935
- Genres: Long fiction, Naturalistic literature
- Subjects: North America or North Americans, United States or Americans, Friendship, Class consciousness, 1920’s, Poverty or poor people, California, West, U.S.
- Locales: Monterey, CA
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...
[The entire page is 639 words long]
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